BELLEVUE, Neb.— The William Woods University Volleyball team traveled to Bellevue, Nebraska to participate in the Premier Labor Day Classic. Day one of the two-day tournament would bring No. 20th Bellevue University and No. 18th MidAmerica Nazarene University. The Owls dropped to the Bruins in their first match in four, (22-25, 25-19, 20-25,25-27) and fell to MidAmerica Nazarene in three, (16-25, 20-25, 27-29).

WWU returns to action tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 2nd when they play Tabor College at 9 a.m. and close out the tournament against University of Jamestown at 1 p.m. 

Bellevue
Game Flow
Bellevue came out swinging as they scored the first five of the seven points in the match. The Owls would chip away the Bruins lead as a service run by Kayton Coffee would bring in three points with kills from Kate Doerhoff and Rayleen Rivera, 5-5. The Owls would then fight point for point until Bellevue would run away with a two-point lead, 12-10. A kill by Tory Wiley and a timely Bruins error would give the Owls two more points, but the Bruins still held the lead by two, 14-12. The Owls would fight until the last points where Abby Ferguson adds a kill of her own and Kayton Coffee collects a service ace, but that unfortunately was not enough for the win Owls falling in the first set, 25-22.

The Owls came out in the second set with a kill by Wiley to start a fire for the Owls. Rivera and Ferguson would also add their own kills during the service of Melanie Kala, 4-2. The Owls would keep their lead throughout the entire set keeping the Bruins at bay by three points, 16-13. The two teams then went kill for kill during the last 13 points. The Owls came away with a 25-19 second set victory.
Set three would be intense as the first ten points were split between the Owls and the Bruins. BU would take the lead with Maddie Squiers up to serve, 14-8. The Owls would score three points before they had a late run with kills from Kira Krebill and Wiley, cutting the lead to four, 21-17. WWU was able to score three more points before BU took the third set, 25-20.

The Owls scored and took the early lead after kills by Rivera, Krebill, and Engelbrecht, 5-2. It would not be until a service run by Bruins Taylor Holz, that BU would take the lead, 10-9. The Bruins ran away with a four-point lead, 15-11. The Owls chipped away and eventually took the lead after a kill by Rivera and Wiley, 18-16. The Owls would hold their lead while adding kills from Krebill, and Ferguson, 22-20. The two teams would go point for point and Doerhoff and Krebill would add kills for the Owls, but BU took set four, 27-25.

By the Numbers
4- The Owls had four players hit double figures
13- Rayleen Rivera and Tory Wiley led the Owls with 13 kills each
2 – Kayton Coffee had two aces
55 – Brittney Engelbrecht had 55 assists, second most in school history in a four-set match
23 – Jessica Jensen led the Owls with 23 digs
 
MidAmerica Nazarene University
Game Flow
The Owls started out set one going point for point with the Pioneers until a run by Kayton Coffee gave the Owls a three-point lead. The service run also included kills by Doerhoff as well as Rivera. The Owls would keep the lead until Jennifer Roth of MidAmerica Nazarene would add a service run of her own, giving the Pioneers a nine-point lead, 19-10. The Owls would be able to battle back six points before they fell in the first set, 25-16.

WWU came out swinging as two of their first four points were kills, 4-2. The two teams would then go point for point with the Owls keeping the lead until the Pioneers cut the lead and ran ahead by two points, 13-11. Kills from Rivera and Wiley would bring the Owls to a one-point deficit until the Pioneers would have a five-point lead, 21-16. Wiley and Rivera would continue to rack up kills, but the Owls would not be able to gain enough points, losing set two 25-20.

The third set was a nail biter as the Owls scored the first five of the seven points of the set, 5-2. The Owls would continue to rally points as a service from Coffee allows three consecutive kills by Brittney Engelbrecht, Krebill, and Rivera, 9-3. The Pioneers would continue to fight as they cut the lead down to nine, 18-9. The No. 18 Pioneers showed their skill as they kept the Owls from taking the set and were able to have a late run cutting the lead eventually to a tie, 24-24. A timely block from Krebill and Doerhoff would put the Owls with the lead, but a kill and a service ace by the Pioneers would cause a heartbreaking loss for the Owls, 29-27.
 
By the Numbers
28 – Brittney Engelbrecht had 28 assists in the match
10 – Rayleen Rivera led the Owls with 10 kills
2 – Brooke Reed had two aces for the Owls
13 – Jessica Jensen led the Owls with 13 digs
6 – Kira Krebill had six blocks in the match