NEVADA, Mo. - Coming into its regular season finale against Cottey College, William Woods was assured of a home quarterfinal match and the confidence was on full display as the Owls (23-8, 6-3 AMC) blasted past the Comets (11-16, 3-5 AMC) 3-0 (25-9, 25-10, 25-20) on Wednesday night.
Lauren Adams posted three of six service aces on the night for the Woods, with
Kassidy Phillips putting down 16 kills and
Luciana Paiva Pereira adding an even dozen.
The first set started off fairly even, with Cottey able to hang close, even closing the set to a 13-9 deficit on a Cassidy Phillips kill.
Lauren Adams put a hard stop to the Comets surge, however, posting a solo block on an attack by Kyleigh Talbott before rotating to the service line to close out the match.
Woods scored 11 straight points with Adams toeing the service line, including all three of her aces in the match. The senior forced a pair of reception errors by Michaela Wagner and one by Laurencia Botts as the Owls ran out 25-9 winners in the set.
Erin Treis opened the second set for the Owls, serving six straight points to open as part of a 10-1 run by the Woods. Cottey had a brief response to pull as close as 13-6, but the Owls took over at 17-9. Paiva Pereira and Phillips each posted three kills to close out the second set 25-10 winners.
With the match safely in hand, head coach
Kandace Cook went to her bench for the third set. Despite allowing Cottey to take a brief lead at 7-5, Woods easily closed out the contest 25-20 third set winners.
WWU posted an attack percentage of .319 on the night, holding Cottey to a .043 mark for the match including a -.088 pace in the first set. The Owls racked up 66 digs to just 34 for the Comets, and conclude the regular season. Woods will host its AMC Quarterfinal match on Tuesday, November 7.
