FULTON, Mo. – In front of a packed house for its home opener, the William Woods University volleyball team captured its first American Midwest Conference (AMC) victory, as the Owls swept Hannibal-LaGrange University in three sets (25-21, 25-19, 25-13).
In the first set, the Owls (4-5; 1-0 AMC), took an early 6-3 lead, after a kill from
Stephanie Davis. The team extended its advantage out to seven at 19-7, as senior
Cierra Merz picked up a kill.
The Lady Trojans put together a 7-3 run of their own, to get within four (22-18) of WWU. Despite the late effort from HLG, the Owls would then go on to take the first set 25-21, after an attack error from Hannibal-LaGrange.
William Woods totaled a game-high 13 kills and an attack percentage of .320 in the first match, while HLG (0-7; 0-1AMC), was limited to nine kills for an attack percentage of .130.
After a back and forth start in the second set, WWU grabbed a 18-12 lead, after Davis earned a kill and forced the Lady Trojans to call a timeout. Coming out of the timeout HLG tried to cut down the Owls advantage, but WWU maintained its composure and Davis would secure the 25-19 second set win with a huge block.
In the second game, the Owls only totaled nine kills, while committing 10 errors but the Lady Trojans were held to just five kills with seven errors.
The third set was all William Woods from the start, as the team jumped out to an early 15-1 capped off by an ace from senior
Lauren Rodewald. During the impressive run for the Owls, the team was red hot from the service line, as
Brittney Engelbrecht recorded four aces, while Rodewald added two.
WWU pushed its lead up to 19-4, after Becker collected a kill and then the Owls would put away the Lady Trojans, after a Davis kill from Engelbrecht, allowed WWU to take the set 25-13 and the match.
The Owls recorded 33 kills in the match, as four players totaled a team-high six kills on the night, which included Rodewald, Davis, Merz and senior
Rachel Frabotta. Becker chipped in five kills, while Engelbrecht handed out a game-high 25 assists and
Shelby Hinshaw tallied 13 digs.
William Woods jump back into action on Friday September 11
th, as the team travels to Springfield, Missouri for the Evangel University two day, four-game tournament. They open up the tournament on Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. against Cumberland University.
We would like to recognize
Emily Becker for breaking the all-time career kill mark. This past weekend, the senior passed the old record of 1,345 kills, surpassing
Kristen Bauer record set last season. The Belleville, Illinois native amassed a team-high 57 kills at the Bellevue tournament, pushing her career total to 1,374 kills in an Owl jersey. She is a three-time All-AMC first team honoree and was named to the NAIA All-American honorable mention team in 2014.
Fans check back on wwuowls.com later this week for a full preview of the Evangel tournament.
