ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The William Woods University volleyball team will look to pull its biggest upset in program history on Wednesday night, as the Owls travel to St. Louis, Missouri, and take on No. 7-ranked Missouri Baptist University. First-serve is set for 7 p.m.
The Owls (18-12; 5-2 AMC), won its second game in a row back on October 18
th, as the team defeated Robert Morris University in straight sets (25-17, 25-23, 32-30).
In the match, junior
Emily Becker led the team with a match-high 11 kills, while
Stephanie Davis added seven and an attack percentage of .333. Freshman setter
Brittney Engelbrecht totaled 39 assists and seven digs, while senior
Abbie O'Mara led WWU on the defensive side of the net, as she totaled a match-high 25 digs.
With its win against the Eagles, William Woods has now won two in a row and four out of its last five. Its three other victories have come against Bacone College (3-1), Central Methodist University (3-1) and Judson University (3-0).
During these last five outings, the team has totaled 245 digs, 234 assists, 30 service aces, 333 digs and 28 blocks.
Leading the way for WWU has been Becker, as the Belleville, Illinois, native, has compiled 62 kills, a team-high attack percentage of .328, six service aces and 33 digs. Freshman standout
Abbi McKnelly has earned 51 kills and an attack percentage of .221, while
Kristen Bauer and Davis have added 45 and 33 kills respectively.
Engelbrecht has totaled 204 assists the last five games (11.33 a/set), while O'Mara has led WWU on the defensive side of the net, having 116 digs.
On the season, McKnelly leads the Owls with 297 kills, while also totaling 23 service aces and adding 198 digs. Becker is second on the team with 293 kills, but leads the team in attack percentage (.270), service aces (41) and blocks (78), while Bauer has added 252 kills and freshman
Abby Ferguson has totaled 181.
Engelbrecht, meanwhile, is up over the 1,000 (1,087) assist mark on the year, which ranks the Jefferson City, Missouri, native, eighth in the NAIA, while her 9.54 assist per set is 35
th best in the nation.
On the other side of the net, O'Mara leads the team with 543 digs, which ranks her 19
th overall in the NAIA and second in the American Midwest Conference (AMC).
As a team, WWU ranks in the top 15 in four categories in the NAIA, as they come in sixth in service aces (210), 10
th in kills (1,390), 11
th in digs (1,994) and 14
th in assists (1,255). The team also is ranked 26
th in digs per game (17.49) and service aces per game (1.84), while coming in at No. 33 in blocks (208).
Awaiting William Woods is a Missouri Baptist (27-1; 7-0 AMC) team, that has won 40 out of the last 65 meetings all-time.
The Spartans are riding a season-high 16 game winning streak, as its last and lone loss on the year came against Division II Quincy University, back on September 17
th, where MBU lost in five sets (3-2).
Four of its last wins have come against some top 25 teams', as they have defeated the likes of No. 19-ranked Evangel University (3-1), Baker University (3-1), No. 15-ranked Grand View University (3-0) and (RV) MidAmerica Nazarene (3-1).
On the season, the Spartans are led by Mallory Dillon's 305 kills, while also ranking second on the team with 176 digs. Hannah Carey is second on MBU with 259 kills and an attack percentage of .341, while Taylor Cook has added 252 kills and 275 digs. Kristina Medanovic is the fourth Spartan with at least 240 kills (242) and does own a team-high attack percentage of .398.
Setter Ally Krus has totaled 1,592 of the teams' 1,804 assists on the year, which is third best in the NAIA, while her 11.64 assists per game puts her second overall in the NAIA.
Junior libero Haley Pouliezos, meanwhile, has totaled 703 digs on the year, which ranks her second overall in the NAIA, while her 7.17 digs per game is tops in the nation.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score from St. Louis, Missouri.
