ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The William Woods University volleyball team was defeated by No. 3 Missouri Baptist University, 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 18-25, 19-25) on Tuesday night in American Midwest Conference action.
 
William Woods had an attack percentage of .132 for the match. The Owls also tallied six aces, three of which were by Alli Gueck. Rayleen Rivera led the Owls with nine kills in the match.
 
The Owls return to action on Thursday, Oct. 25th when they travel to Point Lookout, Missouri to face College of the Ozarks. This will be the second meeting between these two teams this season.
 
Game Flow
Locking up with the third ranked team in the nation, the Owls came out and battled with the Spartans. With the Owls down, 5-3, Tory Wiley recorded a kill putting the Owls down one, 5-4. WWU would find itself down one, 7-6, before they scored the next three points taking an 9-7 lead. MBU answered right back and after a Maggie Sorensen kill, the Spartans led 16-14. The rest of the match would go back and forth and an attack error by Sorensen put the Owls down two, 23-21. However, WWU could not get close and they would drop the first set, 25-22.
 
The second set would go back and forth and a kill by Wiley put the Owls ahead, 5-4. William Woods slowly started extending its lead in the second set and WWU had a stretch of scoring seven of eight points taking a 13-6 lead after a Jessica Jensen service ace. A Rivera kill pushed the lead to nine, 16-7, however, the Spartans slowly started to come back. WWU's Wiley closed out the set with a kill giving the Owls a 25-21 victory and tying the match at 1-1.
 
The Owls stormed out to a quick lead in the third set as they scored the first five points. During the run, Alli Gueck had two service aces. The Spartans did not give up and slowly came back. Trailing 11-7, the Spartans scored five straight taking a 12-11 lead. After taking the lead, MBU did not give the lead back and took the third set, 25-18 over the Owls.
 
WWU needed to win the fourth set to keep the match alive and early on they battled the Spartans and the set was tied at 5-5. After a Wiley kill put the Owls ahead, 7-6, the Spartans sored four straight taking a 10-7 lead. MBU followed by growing its lead to six, 16-10, over the Owls. Trailing by six, WWU scored five straight points, as MBU had three attack errors during the stretch. One point would be as close as the Owls would get and they would fall to MBU, 25-19, in the fourth set and 3-1 for the match.
 
By the Numbers
6 – The Owls had six aces against the Spartans
6 – WWU tallied six blocks in the match
9 – Rayleen Rivera led the Owls with nine kills
16 – Jessica Jensen led the Owls with 16 digs
21 – Remie Johnson led the Owls with 21 assists
.132 – WWU had an attack percentage of .132 for the match
7 – Seven different Owls had a kill