BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – The William Woods University volleyball team split their first day of Oklahoma Wesleyan University Tournament, as the team cruised past Bacone College in three sets (25-14, 25-20, 25-14) but then fell to Sterling College in four (25-21, 21-25, 24-26, 17-25).
William Woods 3 Bacone College 0In the first set, it was a tight game from the beginning, until three consecutive attack errors by the Lady Warriors (0-1), allowing William Woods (1-0) to take a 13-9 lead. Then later in the set,
Emily Becker would string together three aces, to push the Owls lead up to 21-11.
WWU continued to ride the momentum and would take set one 25-14, after a
Stephanie Davis kill and an attack error from Lady Warriors. The Owls limited Bacone College to an attack percentage of .000 in the first set, while collecting 10 kills and a .227 attack percentage.
The second set WWU picked right where they left off in the first set, taking a 7-3 lead over Bacone after a
Rachel Frabotta kill. However, after three straight William Woods' errors, it opened the door for the Lady Warriors to tie the set up at 8-8.
After going back-and-forth down the stretch of the second set, the Owls went on a 5-0 run, giving them a 24-20 advantage and then senior
Lauren Rodewald would close the set for WWU with an attack from teammate
Brittney Engelbrecht. WWU tallied 12 kills for an attack percentage of .148.
The third set saw the Owls jump out to a 13-7 lead, after two consecutive aces from Becker. From then on it was all William Woods, as the team was able to go on to secure the three game set 25-14 over the Lady Warriors.
WWU had its best set of the match in the third, collecting a game-high in kills (13) and attack percentage (.269). Becker led the Owls with nine kills, while Davis recorded eight and
Cierra Merz contributed five. Engelbrecht handed out 27 assists, while
Shelby Hinshaw recorded 15 digs.
William Woods 1 Sterling College 3In set one, it was the same story as the first match for the Owls, jumping out to a 10-2 lead after a kill from Frabotta on the right side. Sterling College wouldn't go down without a fight, as the Warriors went on a 5-0 run of their own, cutting the Owls lead down to two (22-20).
After a William Woods timeout, the team responded by capping off the first set with a kill from Becker to go on to secure the set 25-21.
In set two it was the Warriors that took the first lead, going ahead of WWU 14-8, after back-to-back kills from Arlow. However, the Owls battled back and would trail by just three at 23-20, after a Davis kill. It wasn't quite enough for WWU as Sterling College finished off the Owls, tying the match up 1-1.
The third set saw the Owls take an early 3-2 lead after consecutive kills from Rodewald, Frabotta and Merz. Although, that would be the last lead of the set for WWU as the Warriors took momentum, taking the largest lead of the set 17-13, after a service error from WWU.
The Owls would then start cutting the Warriors lead down, point by point and after a Sterling College attack error, the set was tied up at 24-24. Despite another comeback for the second straight set, SC would take the third set 26-24. The Owls posted a game-high 18 kills and a .279 attack percentage.
In the fourth set, after eight ties between the both teams, the Warriors were able to go on win the set and the match, 25-17. Becker led the team with her first double-double of the season, recording 13 kills and 12 digs. Junior Davis added nine kills and Frabotta and Rodewald each tallied seven, while freshman
Melanie Kala and Hinshaw combined of 31 of the teams 52 digs.
The Owls will return to action tomorrow, as the team will take of Langston University at 9:00 a.m. and then Manhattan Christian College at 3:00 p.m.
Fans check back on wwuowls.com tomorrow for a full recap and scores from the last day of the Oklahoma Wesleyan University Tournament.
