BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – The William Woods University volleyball team swept day two of the Oklahoma Wesleyan University, defeating both Langston University and Manhattan Christian College in three straight sets, which ending the Owls weekend above .500.
In the final day of the Owls season opening tournament, the team cruised past Langston University (25-16, 27-25, and 25-15) and then wrapped up the tournament with a (25-19, 25-19, 25-21) victory over Manhattan Christian College, as WWU gets an early 3-1 strong start to its 2015 season.
William Woods 3 Langston University 0In set one, both teams' would come out going point-for-point in the early morning game start and after a kill from
Emily Becker, WWU tied the game up 6-6. Then the Owls would gain a little breathing room, as setter
Brittney Engelbrecht would dump a ball behind the Lions back row, giving WWU a 10-8 lead.
That would be as close as LU would get as the team went on 15-6 run, secured by a game-point block from
Stephanie Davis and
Lauren Rodewald, taking set one 25-15.
The second set saw the Owls jump out to an early 12-5 advantage, after a Becker kill and ace from freshman Tori Wiley. However, Langston would try to make a comeback, after going on a 7-2 run and tying the game up 16-16.
The Owls showed their toughness by regaining the momentum in the set with a huge kill down the line from Rodewald, putting the team up by one (23-22). The Lions would be one point away from tying the match up 1-1, until a WWU timeout, which saw LU come out and commit three attacking errors, leaving the door open for William Woods.
Becker would secure the 27-25 set with a kill from Engelbrecht. In set two the Owls collected a game-high 12 kills with an attack percentage of .279,
In the third set, it was all WWU, after back-to-back kills from
Rachel Frabotta, the Owls pushed their lead up to 14-11. Then the team would put together an impressive 9-2 run at the end of the set, with consecutive kills from Engelbrecht and capped off by a kill from freshman
Libby Dove to take the set and match 25-15.
The Owls posted 33 kills, as Engelbrecht led the way recording her career first double-double with a career-high 12 kills while handing out 18 assists.
Stephanie Davis and Becker each added six kills on the win.
William Woods 3 Manhattan Christian College 0In a back-and-forth start to the second match of the day, after going point-for-point with 15 different tied occasions, the Owls broke away and took its largest lead of the set 23-16, after a big kill from outside hitter,
Cierra Merz.
The Owls would maintain its momentum and go on to take the first set, 25-19, after two straight kills from Davis and Merz. WWU collected a game-high 18 kills and an attack percentage of .379, while Merz led the way with seven kills.
Set two was the same story as the first set, then Rodewald would give the Owls a boost of energy, with two consecutive kills, pushing the team's lead to 12-10. The Owls would end the second set on a 9-5 run, securing the 25-19 win and the two game advantage over MCC.
In the third set, the Owls jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after three consecutive attacking errors from Manhattan Christian, However, the Thunder took its first lead of the set after an Elan-Putick kill, giving them the one point lead (10-9) over WWU.
Although, William Woods kept its composer and put together an 8-3 run to regain the lead after a Merz kill (19-16) and then went on to win the set and match 25-21. Â
William Woods amassed a season-high 47 kills against the Thunder, as two Owls collected double-digit kills, Merz (13) and Rodewald (11). Merz 13 kills set a new career-high for the senior. Becker and Davis each added nine and seven kills, respectively, while Engelbrecht tallied 38 assists and
Shelby Hinshaw recorded a game-high 22 digs.
The Owls will use this momentum and next week of practice to get ready for the Bellevue University Tournament next weekend. WWU will kick-off the tournament against host, Bellevue University at 11:00a.m on Friday.
Fans check back on wwuowls.com later next week for a preview of the Bellevue tournament.
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