Fulton, Mo. – The William Woods University Women's Volleyball team opened up its 2016 season on Thursday evening at Anderson Arena. The Owls fell to No. 20 Evangel, 3-0 (22-25, 21-25, 19-25). Attack errors started to mount up early for the Owls as they had 26 errors and hit .074 for the match, while the Crusaders hit .218.
 
Stephanie Davis led the Owls with 13 kills in the match and Victoria Day followed with 11 kills. Brittney Engelbrecht dished out 28 assists in the match. With her 28 assists, Engelbrecht moves to third on the WWU All-Time Career Assists list.
 
The Owls return to action tomorrow at 4 p.m. when they play Central Methodist University in the Missouri Valley College Tournament. WWU will also be in action at 8 p.m. tomorrow against Culver-Stockton College.  
 
Game Flow
The Owls opened up the match with scoring five of the seven points. During that stretch, the Owls took advantage of the Crusaders' attack errors and Victoria Day collected two of her 10 kills.
 
Evangel put an end to their momentum by answering back with a seven point run. After trading a few points back and forth, the Owls found themselves down 18-10 before starting to rally. The Owls cut the lead down to five, 22-17, after a Kira Krebill kill. However, the Crusaders scored two of the next three points, putting it at set point, 24-18, before the Owls rallied off four points to cut the lead down to two, 24-22. Jorie Garrett ended the Owls run with a kill, giving Evangel the set, 25-22.
 
In set two, the Crusaders came out strong scoring six of the first seven points. With placement kill by Engelbrecht, William Woods also took advantage of Crusaders mistakes, the Owls rallied and found themselves at a tie match, 8-8. Within that stretch Kameryn Bellinger added a service ace for the Owls.
 
The two teams traded points and after an attack error by Day, the Crusaders took a one point lead, 17-16. William Woods rallied scoring the next two points after a Crusader service error and a Davis kill. After the Owls took a one point lead, Evangel scored the next five points taking a 21-18 lead. WWU cut the lead down to two, but could not come back as Evangel took the second set, 25-21.
 
Neither team took control in the third set and each time a team took the lead, the other responded. After a Davis kill for the Owls, the match was tied 5-5. Once Evangel took the lead, 7-6, they did not give up the lead the rest of the set. The Owls would not give up as they found themselves down 17-12. WWU put up the next three points capped off by an Abby Ferguson kill, making it 17-15. Two points would be as close as the owls would get the remainder of the set as the Crusaders came away with a 25-19 third set victory, clenching the match.
 
By The Numbers
28 – Brittney Engelbrecht recorded 28 assists to move her to third on the All-Time Career Assists list
19 – Jessica Jensen led the Owls with 19 digs in the three set match
7.5 – Evangel out-blocked the Owls seven and a half to three in the match
7 – William Woods served seven aces led by Jessica Jensen with three
.074 – The Owls hitting percentage was .074 in the match