FULTON, Mo. - After a slow start to the match, No. 4 seed William Woods University (25-11, 8-3 American Midwest Conference) breezed past No. 5 seed Mission University (14-22, 6-5), winning 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-12) in the AMC Tournament quarterfinals Tuesday at Anderson Arena. With the win, the Owls achieved their third 25-win season of the 21st century and their first in seven years.
"Picking up our 25th win on the season is a great feeling and to do it on a night where we have all these awards being announced is huge," William Woods volleyball coach
Kandace Cook said. "We have sickness and injuries and everything in between but have gotten stronger and found a way to do more with our reserve athletes and starting athletes."
That wasn't the only milestone for William Woods Tuesday, with honorable mention All-AMC selection
Vitoria Campos Mello recording her first double-double in her first season as an Owl with 11 kills and a match-high 15 digs - her most since her freshman season at Mineral Area College when she pulled down 16 digs versus Barton Community College on Oct. 15, 2022. Another landmark performance for Woods was first-team All-AMC
Luciana Paiva Pereira putting down a career-high 19 kills with a match-high .500 hitting percentage.
On top of those spectacular performances were some more for the Owls, with second-team All-AMC
Erin Treis tallying a match-high 26 assists - 11 more than any other player - AMC Newcomer of the Year
Pamela Durazo joining Campos Mello with six blocks while adding 10 kills and second-team All-AMC
Andressa M. Borges registering 13 kills.
With so many outstanding games, William Woods naturally did well as a team, posting 60 kills with a .354 hitting percentage, four aces, 10 blocks, 54 assists and 50 digs. The Patriots had 35 kills with a .083 hitting percentage, five aces, five blocks, 34 assists and 41 digs.
Even in the set the Owls lost, they had better-attacking numbers, notching 14 kills while hitting .216, compared to Mission's 12 kills and .182 hitting percentage. After WWU went up 2-0 on Paiva Pereira and Campos Mello kills, the Patriots answered with a 7-1 run to go up 7-3. The Owls followed that by scoring four unanswered points to tie it at 7, and the set remained tight until MU took it by three points.
William Woods had a dominant second set, recording 17 kills with a .412 hitting percentage, while the Patriots totaled 11 kills with a .152 hitting percentage. Mission's first and only lead of the set was at 2-1, and from there, the Owls started a 5-0 run to send them in front 6-2. During that set-deciding run, Treis tallied three assists, and Campos Mello had back-to-back kills. Treis registered nine assists, and Paiva Pereira put down six kills to lead WWU to the five-point second-set victory.
In set three, the Owls notched 15 kills with a .379 hitting percentage, and the Patriots posted seven kills with a .074 hitting percentage. It was a similar story to the previous set, with WWU never trailing after it went on top 4-3 on the second point of its 3-0 run - a combined block by Borges and Campos Mello gave the Owls that advantage. The difference between sets two and three was WWU extending its lead to double digits, which it did on set point. While it did occur on the last point, the Owls commanded the court by going on a 5-0 run to end the third set.
En route to winning match-set point, William Woods tallied 14 kills with a set-high .444 hitting percentage, and Mission had five kills with a set-low -.107 hitting percentage in the fourth set. With those numbers, it may not be surprising to hear the Owls led throughout the set, and they started it on a 5-0 run, which included two kills from Paiva Pereira. WWU had an even more extended run toward the end of the set, an 8-0 run that concluded with it up 24-10. Four different Owls recorded a kill in that stretch, including setter Treis. And Treis returned to her typical setting duties for match-set point, assisting Paiva Pereira's final kill of her career performance.
Come postseason, it's expected that the longer a team's run is, the more formidable the opponents are. And that's precisely what William Woods faces, taking on (RV)/No. 1 seed Missouri Baptist University (23-11, 11-0) in the AMC Tournament semifinals at 4 p.m. Friday at Carly & Deloris Petty SRC in Creve Couer.
"We plan to work hard at practice tomorrow and Thursday to prepare for our semifinal matchup, ready to lock in and do our jobs both individually and collectively," Cook said.
