FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University Owls Volleyball team was defeated 3-0 (24-26, 21-25, 21-25) by Columbia College on Wednesday night in the American Midwest Conference Game of the Week.
 
The Owls were led by Victoria Day who had 10 kills on the day. Tory Wiley followed with nine and Abby Ferguson followed with seven. Brittney Engelbrecht as she dished out 27 assists in the match.
 
William Woods returns to action next Thursday, October 20th when they host Stephens College at Anderson Arena. Match starts at 7 p.m.
 
Game Flow
As the first set went underway, both teams were fighting for the lead. They rallied back and forth for the first six points until Columbia took a three-point 10-7, lead after a kill by Peiyi Liu. The Owls would then cut the lead down to one, 11-10, with a kill by Brittney Engelbrecht. A service run from Liu would give the Cougars a nice four-point lead, 15-11. The Cougars would run away with another five-point lead, set score 19-14. After a service run by Victoria Day and kills by Tory Wiley as well as Jessica Jensen, the Owls found themselves at a tied set, 20-20. Kills by Kira Krebill and Wiley would set the Owls ahead by one for the first time in the set 22-21. After yet another kill by Liu, and an ace, the Owls were behind, 23-22. The set would go 26-24 before falling to Columbia, losing set one.
 
The second set started much like the first, with the score bouncing back and forth from team to team. It was not until a kill by Stephanie Davis that the Owls picked up a two-point lead, 7-5. The Owls would keep the lead until a kill from Liu, tying the set at 10-10. The Cougars would then take the lead and keep it until the Owls cut it down to a one-point, 18-17, lead with another kill from Engelbrecht. A service run from Day looked promising until the Cougars snagged another point making the set score 21-19. The Owls fought back, adding kills from Wiley and Day, but it was not enough to pull ahead, ultimately falling to the Cougars, 25-21.
 
Set three was controlled by the Owls as they scored the first three points, with a kill from Day, Krebill, and Ferguson, 3-0. After Owls attack errors, the Cougars would catch up, 4-4. The Owls came back and started after a block by Wiley and Davis, WWU led 6-4. The set would then go back and forth with both teams fighting for the lead eight more times before the Cougars finally ran away with the lead, 16-14. Eirini Chatziefstratiadou added a kill extending the Cougars lead to 20-16. A kill from Engelbrecht would cut the lead down to three, but after a team service error from the Owls, the Owls found themselves down 21-17. WWU would score two more point but a block from Zori Curry and Liu would shut down the momentum, putting Columbia ahead 23-19. A kill by Wiley and a mistake from the Cougars would add two more points for William Woods, but that would not be enough as the Cougars closed out the match with a kill from Samantha Meyer taking set three 25-21.
 
By the Numbers
27- Brittney Engelbrecht would dish out 27 more assists
22- The number of times the set score would be tied
10- Victoria Day would have 10 kills in the night leading the Owls
4 – WWU had four aces on the match
.255 – The Owls collected a hitting percentage of .255 for the match
1 - Tory Wiley and Stephanie Davis would both collect one block in the match