DES MOINES, Iowa -  The William Woods University Volleyball team split on the day as they traveled to Des Moines, Iowa to participate in the two-day Grand View University tournament. The Owls suffered their first loss to No.15 Montana Tech in three, (26-28, 24-26, 19-25). The Owls then bounced back and won against University of Saint Francis in three, (25-17, 25-15, 25-23).

William Woods returns to action tomorrow, October 14th when they play Rocky Mountain College at 9 a.m. and conclude the tournament against Trinity Christian College at 1 p.m.
 
Montana Tech
Game Flow
The first set started out with both teams swinging. After Montana Tech scored the first point, the Owls were quick to answer back with a kill by Rivera, 1-1. This trend continued until the Orediggers ran away with a four-point lead, 8-4. The Owls slowly crept back with a service run by Brittney Engelbrecht. During the run the Owls were able to string together five points, three of those points were kills by Kira Krebill, Rayleen Rivera, and Engelbrecht to take the lead, 10-9. The Orediggers quickly returned the favor by scoring six before the Owls would side out, 17-11. The Owls would cut the lead down to three after a service ace by Melanie Kala, 19-16. After another three point run by the Orediggers, the Owls found themselves fighting for their side out. The Owls were able to come and tie the set at 24-24. After a big block by Rivera, the Owls would be one point away from the win, 25-24. Unfortunately, the next point was won by Montana Tech, 25-25. The Owls squeezed out one more point with a kill by Doerhoff, before the Orediggers sealed the first set, 28-26.

The second set would carry much of the excitement from the first set as the first few points went back and forth before the Diggers would take a slight lead, 9-7. The Orediggers would continue to hold onto the lead until the Owls tied the match at 13-13 after a block by Abby Ferguson and Kate Doerhoff. The two offenses would continue to fight at the net until the match was tied yet again, 20-20. The last five points of the match were kills, four of which came from the Diggers, giving them the win, 26-24.

The third set started out with the Diggers scoring the first two points of the match, 2-0. The Owls would catch up and then battle back and forth going kill for kill with the Orediggers. The Owls struggled in finding the court and found themselves suddenly down three points, 12-9. The Diggers would take advantage of that and score three more points before a block by Krebill and Doerhoff would get the side out for the Owls, 15-10. The Owls would score two more points after a kill by Doerhoff, but found themselves eight points behind the Diggers, 20-12. The Owls would score with two more blocks and two kills, but would not be enough to overcome the offense of the Diggers, ultimately losing set three, 25-19.

By the Numbers
36 – The Owls had 36 kills in the match
1 – WWU had one ace against Montana Tech
9 – Kate Doerhoff and Tory Wiley led the Owls with nine kills
11 – The Owls had 11 blocks in the match
 
St. Francis
Game Flow
The Owls started out slow in the first set as they fell behind the Cougars early on, 7-3. The Owls would then cut the lead and take the lead after a service run by Jessica Jensen, 9-7. After a block by Engelbrecht and Krebill, the Owls would take another six-point lead, 16-10. The Owls continued to hold the lead and added kills by Krebill, Doerhoff, and Ferguson and the Owls came away with a 25-17 first set win.

The Owls would dominate the second set as they ran away with the lead after a service by Kayton Coffee, 11-5. A kill by the Cougars would be a hiccup for the Owls as Ferguson got the ball back for the Owls after a kill. The Owls did not stop there, adding three more points, 13-6.  Another multiple point service run was by Engelbrecht, adding another four-points, 17-8. The Owls offense would go on a three-point spree as it was back to back to back from Rivera and Wiley, 20-10. The Cougars would fight the Owls late in the set challenging them for five points, before the Owls ended the set with a block by Jaclyn Zahn and Engelbrecht, 25-15.

The Owls played catch-up in the third set falling early in the set behind the Cougars. The Owls found themselves in a five-point deficit until a kill by Ferguson would get the offense rolling, 11-8. The Owls would cut the lead down to two, 12-10. The Cougars were not letting up as they continued to keep their lead until the Owls took the lead with a service run by Rivera. In that run, Wiley and Doerhoff added kills to run the score up to 20-18. With five points left to score, the two teams would battle back and forth, but the Owls were able to overcome the battle, winning set three, 25-23.

By the Numbers
11 – Abby Ferguson led the Owls with 11 kills
34 – Brittney Engelbrecht dished out 34 assists
6 – The Owls had six blocks in the contest
32 – WWU had 32 digs in the match
5 – The Owls had five aces in the match