FULTON, Mo. - William Woods University (20-10, 4-2 American Midwest Conference) continued its commanding stretch on the court, winning its eighth straight and sweeping its fifth consecutive opponent, Harris-Stowe State University (4-16, 0-5), 25-21, 25-16, 25-9 in an AMC matchup Thursday at Anderson Arena.
Like their previous game Tuesday, the Owls led in every noteworthy team statistic, except for blocks (7-2). WWU had more kills (44-17), aces (8-3), assists (39-16) and digs (39-37), and a better hitting percentage (.287-.104). Leading the Owls in their comfortable sweep were
Pamela Durazo with a match-high 11 kills while hitting .550 and
Erin Treis with a match-high 16 assists, a team-high eight digs and a tri-match-high two aces.
"A slow start to the night ended with a big finish!" William Woods volleyball coach
Kandace Cook said. "The core part of our hitting crew did their job extremely well and came to play when we really needed them to! We continue to learn that while we are all great hitters and good at being aggressive. There are plenty of holes on the other court where we can be smarter without having to work as hard for every point! We are great at defending our home court, and tonight's game marked our 20th win of the season! We are excited for a week away of conference play!"
Although Woods was the better team overall, the Hornets started strong and led by as much as four points (8-4) in the first set. But, a 5-0 WWU run later in the set gave it the lead for good at 16-15. An
Andressa M. Borges kill off a
Juliana Neves assist started the run, and then
Luciana Paiva Pereira put down back-to-back kills off Treis assists before Treis served an ace. HSSU made an attack error following its timeout to end the run, with the Owls up 19-15.Â
That was one of three Hornets errors in set one; HSSU's third error gave Woods the set point. The real difference in set one was the Owls' 16 kills and .243 hitting percentage compared to the Hornets' eight kills and .192 hitting percentage.
William Woods had an easier time taking the second set than the first, only trailing once - 2-0 its most significant deficit - before going on a 6-1 run to grab a hold of the lead. Half the Owls' points in that stretch were from
Vitoria Campos Mello kills, and Treis provided three assists in that run.Â
With set two being her first,
Lauren Adams played in multiple sets for the first time since the Owls' five-setter against Rochester Christian on Sep. 28, and in the set, WWU's first-team All-AMC honoree had two kills, an ace and an assist. The Owls notched 15 kills while hitting .238, and Harris-Stowe had six kills while hitting .077 in the set.
Sealing the sweep in its most dominant set at Anderson Arena this year, the Owls' 16-point third-set win was their largest margin for a set victory at home this season, and it tied their first set against Justice College Sep. 28 and third set versus Central Christian College of Kansas Aug. 24 for its widest set triumph in any contest this year.
Never going down in set three, the Owls already led by double digits at 14-4 when
Mya Clapp recorded a kill assisted by
Audra Gray. That was the fifth point of WWU's set-high 8-0 run, which ended with the Owls ahead 17-4 and all but secured the set for them. The second of Gray's tri-match-high two aces in the set - game - gave the hosts set point, and she also had six assists to help spark The Woods to its 20th win.
The win was notable for the Owls and Cook because it marked their second straight 20-win season, and Cook had won at least 20 games in her first two years as a college volleyball head coach. Adding to that point, Woods is five wins away from surpassing its win total from a season ago, and the Owls totaled at least 20 victories in back-to-back years for the first time since Ashley Nehls did it in 2017-18, and like Cook, those were her first two seasons as a college volleyball head coach.
William Woods goes on a two-game AMC road trip next week, starting with Hannibal-LaGrange University (6-23, 3-2 AMC) at 6 p.m. Monday at Mabee Sports Complex in Hannibal. The Owls have a realistic chance to make it their ninth straight win and sixth straight sweep, as they beat the Trojans in straight sets 25-11, 25-10, 25-16 last year.
