PARKVILLE, Mo.—The William Woods University volleyball team will look to pull the upset of the year on Saturday afternoon, as the Owls travel to No. 2-ranked Park University. First-serve is set for 1 p.m.
The Owls (20-14; 6-3 AMC), are coming off a 1-1 performance at its tri-match they hosted back on October 25
th, as they fell to No. 19-ranked Evangel University in straight sets (24-26, 28-30, 26-28), but responded with a three set (25-23, 25-16, 25-15) victory over Friends University in the finale of the tri-match.
Leading the way in the two matches was freshman
Abbi McKnelly, totaling a team-high 29 kills to go along with an impressive .354 attack percentage. Junior
Emily Becker collected 28 kills and a team-high attack percentage of .429, while
Kristen Bauer and
Abby Ferguson contributed 14 and 11 kills respectively.
Freshman setter
Brittney Engelbrecht added 78 assists, while senior
Abbie O'Mara led the team defensively, having 45 digs.
On the season, the team has totaled 1,556 kills, which is 19
th best in the NAIA and leading the way offensively, has been McKnelly, earning 340 kills, while defensively, the Jefferson City, Missouri, native, has added 221.
Becker is second on the team with 332 kills, but leads the team in attack percentage (.270), service aces (44) and blocks (91). Bauer is third on the team in kills (274), while Ferguson is fourth, having 197 on the year.
Engelbrecht comes in at No. 10 overall in the NAIA in assists, as the Jefferson City, Missouri, native, has totaled 1,219, while O'Mara is 18
th in the NAIA in digs, as she has contributed 607 on the season.
As a team, in the NAIA, the Owls rank seventh in total service aces (231), 14
th in digs (2,242), 17
th in digs per game (17.79), 21
st in assists (1,411), 27
th in service aces per game (1.83) and 32
nd in blocks (234).
This will be the 53
rd meeting all-time between the Owls and Pirates (28-0; 9-0 AMC), and WWU has had success against Park, totaling 38 wins.
This season, however, Park has been nearly unstoppable, as they have dropped just two sets all season, one of which came against No. 6-ranked Northwestern College on September 13
th and the other against No. 7-ranked Missouri Baptist University on October 24
th.
On the season, the Pirates are led by Wendy Romero, having a team-high 371 kills and an attack percentage of .372, which ranks her sixth overall in the NAIA in kills and 11
th in attack percentage. She also has totaled 59 service aces, which is third best in the NAIA, while her .710 service aces per game is second overall.
Wanessa Siqueira is another player WWU will need to focus on, as he has contributed 295 kills and an attack percentage of .332, while Raissa Herczfeld has added 149 kills.
Juliana Barros has totaled 948 assists, while defensively, the Pirates are led by Daniela Duarte, having 303 digs.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score from Parkville, Missouri.
