FULTON, Mo. - Hosting William Woods' first home event of the 2024-25 athletics calendar Friday at Anderson Arena, Owls volleyball sure didn't disappoint their home crowd, sweeping their season-opening triangular while electrifying everyone in attendance. WWU cruised to a 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 27-25) victory over Waldorf (0-2) before prevailing in a gripping five-set thriller (22-25, 18-25, 28-26, 25-19, 15-8) by winning the final three sets versus future conference opponent Mount Mercy (1-1) - First-Team All AMC selection Lauren Adams' sixth block secured an Owls triumph over the Mustangs.

"She's really the fire for us," William Woods volleyball coach Kandace Cook said of Adams. "A lot of times, she leads our middle core, and we have a lot of middles behind her, chasing after, and they challenge each other every single day, but the energy and the enthusiasm and the want for the game is what's so big. We love a good start, and here we are again." Not only did William Woods (2-0) open 2024 with two wins, but it showed its depth. Outside of Pamela Durazo in blocks (eight against Waldorf and seven against Mount Mercy), a transfer from Arizona Western College last year who wasn't eligible to play until this year, WWU's statistical leader in kills, aces, assists and digs was different each contest, showing their depth.

While there were strong performances across Woods' lineup versus Waldorf, Erin Treis' double-double (12 digs and assists) stood out the most.

"I'm so proud of Erin," Cook said. "I think she's come a long way. She's in a great spot for a junior coming in and running our offense, and we need her on that court. She does great things. She's wanted to continue to grow and switch up the offense, but without her running that, I don't know what we would look like."
Another Owl that performed well in the Waldorf match was Audra Gray, who posted a game-high 19 assists and laid down a pinpoint accurate ace into the back row, one of three WWU aces.

Although the Owls had 38 kills to the Warriors' 27, Waldorf's .064 hitting percentage compared to William Woods' .258 separated them. Adding to that point, freshman Andressa M. Borges had a team-high eight kills, two less than Waldorf's leader, but five Warriors tallied three or more errors while one Owl did.

"We weren't sure what to expect," Cook said of Waldorf. "We can only look at so many numbers from last year and know who they graduated, that sort of thing. I thought we were able to block a little higher, be a little bigger at the net against them, whereas with Mount Mercy, we had to block a little lower, closer to the tape, so that we were a little more disciplined. I think we got lucky in some parts of Waldorf, where they swung right into us. With Mount Mercy, they really were trying to manipulate the ball, so we had to be a lot more disciplined on the block and work harder."

After Mount Mercy beat Waldorf 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 24-26, 25-20), William Woods knew the Mustangs wouldn't be a cakewalk by any means, and they weren't. Whether the Owls having a break and Mount Mercy playing back-to-back games factored into it, the hosts had a slow start and needed to claw their way back.

Like it did in Woods' first contest, the hitting percentage told who won each set. Mount Mercy recorded a .342 and .267 hitting percentage in the first and second sets, respectively, while the Owls hit .278 and .091. Then, WWU turned it around, hitting .375 in the third set, .208 in the fourth and .571 in the fifth, while the Mustangs registered .205, .029 and .000 marks. "We really talked about it in between those sets that we weren't playing for ourselves, and in some of those moments, we weren't really selfless, and we really want to play selfless in all that we do," Cook said. "So, we had a conversation about that. You're playing for the 36, 37 - however many there are of us - you're playing for everyone here. If we're playing that way, we are playing selfless. We had a big conversation about that. I think that was the switch in momentum that people wanted to make a difference because they wanted to do it for all their teammates, and not just for who they are."

In a sport like volleyball, momentum shifts can happen, like in Woods' third set against Mount Mercy. Trailing 17-10 with the Mustangs eying a match, tri sweep, the Owls flipped a switch and went on an 11-4 run to tie it at 21 thanks to Durazo's kill assisted by Ava Klinger. After that, Mount Mercy won the following three points, but Woods made it 24-all thanks to a Mustangs service error and kills by Vitoria Campos Mello and Adams - Klinger assisted both. The Owls and Mustangs knotted it up twice before WWU broke through and cut its deficit to 2-1 after a Campos Mello kill and Mount Mercy error handed the hosts the third set. Unlike the third set, neither team took a commanding lead in the fourth. The separation that decided the set happened when Owls freshman Marissa Solverud put down one of her 11 kills in the match to make it 23-19. Following that, Mount Mercy made two straight attack errors to send it to a decisive fifth set.

"I think Marissa really stepped out of her shell and did some great things as a freshman, stepping onto that court, and you're stepping on the court with a bunch of juniors and seniors, and she did her job really well," Cook said. "It was impressive."

William Woods executed its game plan during the game-deciding set, while the Mustangs didn't. Two Owls doing that were Durazo and Borges, an unstoppable block. Durazo registered two of her 11 kills and one of her seven blocks, Borges two of her five kills and two of her six blocks in the fifth set.

"Andressa and Pamela blocking definitely super extreme," Cook said. "It's gigantic. I would never want to be hitting against that block, but when they're there and they're pressed, you give them the opportunity to close, it's going to be good."

Treis led the Owls with a career-, team-high 31 assists against Mount Mercy. Luciana Paiva Pereira registered a team-high 12 kills, and Roberta Carlos da Silva had a team-high 18 digs.

Making Woods' result versus the Mustangs more noteworthy, it'll join Mount Mercy in the Heart of America Athletic Conference next year. The Mustangs finished third out of 13 teams in the 2023 Heart regular season, going 22-7 overall and 15-4 in conference play.

"I think Mount Mercy is a great team," Cook said. "They're super consistent. They're very similar to us in a lot of ways. Honestly, their senior setter (Hailey Hested, who notched a game-high 49 assists), I think she's amazing. She's awesome, and I think she makes a difference for that team. We knew that we were gonna have to really hold in and focus on her and make sure that we figured her out quick. I think by the third set our blockers did, and we were like, okay, we can roll with this. It's great to know that we're gonna play them in the future and knowing that it's gonna be a great game every time."

William Woods travels to Canton for its first road match of the season at 7 p.m. Wednesday. It will take on Culver-Stockton (0-0), which finished last in the Heart a season ago. In their most recent meeting, the Owls swept the Panthers 3-0 (25-11, 25-22, 25-22) on Aug. 30 in Fulton.

"Super excited, another conference opponent for the future," Cook said. "We're excited to go out there and see our reserve and our varsity play and put in some great work