Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 CLINTON, Iowa.—The William Woods University volleyball team went 1-1 on the first day of the Ashford University Invitational, as the team defeated St. Ambrose in four sets (25-21, 25-16, 23-25, 25-22) and nearly pulled a monumental upset against No. 5-ranked Northwestern College, but the Eagles fought back and won in five (18-25, 30-28, 29-27, 13-25, 9-15).
William Woods 3 St. Ambrose University 1After taking the first set from the Bees (8-6), the Owls (7-7) made quick of SAU in the second set, winning 25-16. St. Ambrose, however, played spoiler avoiding a sweep for WWU, as they took the third set 25-23, but the Owls responded taking the fourth and final set, 25-22, to win the opening match of the day.
Abbi McKnelly led the Owls with a team-high 15 kills and was second on the team with 19 digs, while junior
Emily Becker totaled 13 kills, zero errors and recorded a match-high .542 attack percentage. Freshman setter
Brittney Engelbrecht earned her 10
th double-double on the season, having 42 assists and 18 digs.
Two other Owls reached the double-digit mark in digs, as senior libero
Abbie O'Mara totaled a team-high 24 digs, while
McKenna Hisel contributed 19.
No. 5 Northwestern College 3 William Woods 2 At 1:30 p.m., the Owls looked for redemption against the No. 5-ranked Northwestern College Eagles (13-1), that swept WWU in straight sets (16-25, 5-25, 23-25) the last time they met, at the Bellevue University tournament.
The Eagles took the first set 25-18, but WWU won a hard fought second set 30-28, to even the match up at 1-1. The third set was another wild one, but it was the Owls coming away with the win, taking it 29-27 and were now up two sets to one.
Northwestern, however, recovered in the fourth set, winning 25-13 and forced the all-important fifth set. In the finale, despite the all-out effort from WWU, it was the Eagles avoiding the upset, winning the set and the match, 15-9.
The Owls totaled 66 kills and an attack percentage of .202 in the match and were led by McKnelly, as the Jefferson City, Missouri, native, set a new career-high for herself with 18 kills.
Becker had another strong showing in game two, totaling 15 kills and 13 digs, while senior
Kristen Bauer and freshman
Abby Ferguson earned 11 digs each.
Engelbrecht also set new career-highs in assists and digs in the match, as she totaled 54 assists and 20 digs, giving her 11 double-doubles on the season.
Defensively, the Owls totaled a season-high 106 digs and were led by O'Mara, setting a new season-high for herself with 39 digs. Junior
Cierra Merz also tied Becker with 13 digs, which is a new career-high for the Oxnard, California, native.
With its 1-1 record on the day, the Owls are the No. 2 seed coming out of the Red Group in Pool Play and will now face the No. 2 seed out of the Green Pool, which has turned out to be Cardinal Stritch University. First-serve on Saturday will be at 10:00 a.m.
After winning two of its first three games on the year, Cardinal Stritch (2-9), has dropped eight of its last nine. In its first game of the Ashford Invitational, CSU defeated William Penn in four sets (25-18, 25-12, 27-29, 25-19), but dropped the final game of Pool Play, against host Ashford University in straight sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-14).
On the season, the Wolves are led by Kendyl Danelski, totaling 103 kills and an attack percentage of .283. Kelsey Sue Johnson has earned 390 assists, while Melissa Murphy leads the Wolves with 189 digs.
To view the entire Ashford Invitational results, visit
HERE.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow evening for a full recap and scores from Clinton, Iowa.
