FULTON, Mo. – For the first time in 28 years, the William Woods University volleyball team took down receiving votes Columbia College! The Owls forced a fifth set and came out victorious, upsetting RV Columbia, 3-2. 
 
The Owls won 16-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22, 15-11.
 
The last time the Owls defeated Columbia was on November 12, 1993, and this is the first time the Owls have ever beaten Columbia on their own court.
 
The Owls remain undefeated in conference play this season with a 6-0 record and move to 6-2 overall. 
 
Next up for the Owls is No. 5 Missouri Baptist University on Tuesday, March 30, at 7 p.m.
 
Quote From The Coach
I am very happy for our players and proud of how they handled the situation.  It is a great win from a historical perspective but it's also very meaningful because it was a hard-fought match against a quality opponent.  
 
To hold them to a .113 hitting percentage considering their offensive talent was huge. Our blocking certainly was a big part of that effort, but we also know we can be pretty tenacious defensively and we displayed that. The offensive balance was also good to see, and Tess gave us a quality performance today. 
 
This spring has been a grind at times—in part because things are very different than college players are used to. To have the energy and level of investment our team showed today was very significant and they deserve a great deal of credit for that.
 
We will enjoy this one but we move into a demanding six days starting on Monday. Hopefully this win will give us a boost during that stretch.
 
By The Numbers
41 – Tess Schannuth assisted in 41 WWU kills.
26 – Tori Rosemann dug up 26 attacks.
13 – Hannah Kuehl hit .357 on the match with 13 kills.
11.3 – The Owls held Columbia to hitting .113 on the match with two sets under 10%.
10 – Lanie Lowry and Faith McQueen put down 10 kills each.
9 – Faith McQueen blocked nine CC attacks. 
4 – Emily Greif served four aces.
 
Game Flow
The Owls fell in set one, 25-16.
 
With a neck-and-neck set two, the Owls pulled away with an ace from Lauren Hiestand to give the Owls a 19-17 lead. A CC service error brought the Owls to set point, 24-21, but CC held on with a kill to bring the score to 24-22. Columbia served out to end the set with an Owls win, 25-22.
 
Columbia maintained the lead throughout set three and took a 2-1 lead after a 25-21 win.
 
The Owls jumped out to an 8-3 lead in set four with three kills from Faith McQueen, forcing CC to call an early timeout. The Owls pushed a 12-6 lead, but CC closed the gap and evened the score at 13 all. With the set sitting at 20-20, a CC attack error followed by a block from Kate Doerhoff and Faith McQueen put the Owls up 22-20. Another block from Doerhoff and McQueen brought the Owls to set point, and a kill from Hannah Kuehl ended the set with a 25-22 win to even the match at 2-2.
 
CC took an early lead in the decision set, but the Owls flipped the switch and rallied for five straight points off a kill from Tess Schannuth, two kills from Lowry and two aces from Emily Greif. After CC closed the gap to just one point, 10-9, McQueen smacked down a kill and CC committed an attack error to put the Owls up 12-9. A service error by CC brought the match to set point, and a ball handling error on Columbia gave the Owls their first win over the rival school in over 28 years, 15-11.