COLUMBIA, Mo. – The William Woods University Volleyball team fell to No.10 Columbia College, 3-1 (26-28, 22-25, 25-21, 23-25) on Tuesday night in American Midwest Conference action. The loss for the Owls is the first loss in AMC play for the Owls.
 
Kate Doerhoff led the Owls with 10 kills in the match and Brittney Engelbrecht had nine kills. Engelbrecth dished out 36 assists for the Owls and Jessica Jensen had 19 digs leading WWU. The Owls had a team hitting percentage of .172 in the match.
 
William Woods returns to action on Thursday, October 19th when they travel to Columbia, Missouri to face Stephens College. The match is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
 
Game Flow
The Cougars came out with a bang as they scored the first four of the five points taking a 4-1 lead. The Owls tied the set at 8-8 until Columbia took a fourt point lead at 13-9. The Owls would continue to trail the Cougars until Brittney Engelbrecht came to the service line. After two kills by Doerhoff, the Owls found themselves tied in the set, 20-20. The set then when point for point with both teams unable to find the court. After a kill by Abby Ferguson and a block by Ferguson and Tory Wiley, the Owls were one point from taking the first set, 24-23. The Cougars came back with two kills and an ace, winning the first set, 28-26.
 
The energy from the first set carried into the second set as both teams fought to take a lead. The Cougars would run away with a two-point lead but the Owls would quickly answer back after a kill by Doerhoff and a service run by Kameryn Bellinger. Engelbrecht added a kill and a block along with Ferguson and the Owls took a 9-6 lead. The Owls would continue to hold the lead until the Cougars cut the lead down to one, 16-15. Kills from Wiley, Engelbrecht and Rayleen Rivera would land the set at 19-18, in favor of the Owls. The Cougars would then take the late lead at 23-21. Wiley would add a kill to get possession, but the Cougars were able to end the second set with a kill and a big block by Ariadne Borges and Yamilet Velasquez taking the set 25-22 and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The Cougars would take an early lead in the third set as they scored the first three points. The Owls would answer back, and cut the lead to two, 7-5, after a kill by Ferguson. The Cougars continued to keep the lead until after a kill from Kira Krebill and Cougar mistake put the Owls ahead, 10-9. The Owls continued to fight to stay close in the set until they cut the lead down to two once again, 17-15. The Owls finally took the lead after kills from Rivera, Krebill, Doerhoff and a service ace by Engelbrecht put the Owls ahead, 23-18. The Cougars would add three more points before the Owls took set three after a kill by Engelbrecht, 25-21.
 
The fourth set would start out much like the third as the Cougars scored the first five points. The Owls answered back with a service run by Jessica Jensen. The Owls added big blocks by Doerhoff, Krebill, and Wiley as well as a service ace taking a 6-5 lead. The possession then teeter tottered between the two teams until the Owls ran away with a five point lead, 14-9. The Owls continued to battle on through as they found themselves at an 18-12 lead. The Owls, hoping to even out the match would struggle to get past 21 as the Cougars cut the lead down to one point, 22-21. The Owls would be able to pull off a block by Engelbrecht and Krebill to take the lead once again but the Cougars would end it with two kills and an ace, taking an exciting fourth set, 25-23.
 
By the Numbers
4 – WWU had four aces in the match
13 – The Cougars had 13 aces against the Owls
10 – The Owls had 10 bloks in the contest
51 – William Woods had 51 digs as a team in the match
.172 – WWU hit .172 in the match
36 – Brittney Engelbrecht dished out 36 assists in the match
10 – Kate Doerhoff led the Owls with 10 kills