SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Ending the Evangel Unversity Quad with a bang, William Woods (6-6) tallied seven career-high statistical displays and four double-doubles en route to beating Friends (6-4) 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19) and RV College of Saint Mary (9-5) 3-1 (15-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-23) Saturday at Ashcroft Center.
While the Owls' entire lineup had solid outings, two in particular made their Saturday memorable. Woods setter
Erin Treis recorded her second and third straight double-doubles, putting her at five this season; she notched a match-high 21 assists and a season-high 13 digs versus Friends and a co-team-high 16 assists, along with 13 digs against CSM. Owls middle hitter
Pamela Durazo had a career-, match-high four aces in both contests, her first double-double as an Owls (13 kills and 11 digs) against the Falcons and a career-, team-high 16 digs along with 13 kills while adding a career-, co-match-high five blocks against the Flames.
Durazo's four aces accounted for half of WWU's total and matched Friends tally in that matchup. The Owls notched a .166 hitting percentage, 50 kills, 11 blocks, 47 assists and 88 digs, while the Falcons had a .114 hitting percentage, 53 kills, seven blocks, 42 assists and 94 digs.
"We see very few teams that run a 5-1 like Friends," William Woods volleyball coach
Kandace Cook said. "The setter tried to take a lot of control of the game offensively. Once we figured her out, we were all set to settle into what we do best. We were in an entirely new lineup this morning. One we had never practiced or even tried. Our kids put a lot of trust in our decisions as a coaching staff first thing this morning, and it paid off to take down Friends in four sets. It was a good win to start our day before facing St. Mary."
Outside of William Woods' star duo on the day, the Owls leaders in the Friends match were
Audra Gray with her first double-double this season (season-high 19 assists and career-high 12 digs),
Madelyn Ashton with a career-, match-high 22 digs and
Vitoria Campos Mello with a career-, match-high seven blocks.
In the first set, the Falcons jumped out to a 3-0 lead on kills by Quinn Curran - registered a match-high 39 assists - and Gabriella Lujan - one of her match-high 18 kills - and a Curran ace in between the kills. Following that, WWU went on a 10-4 run to go up 10-7, with four Owls putting down a kill, including two from Durazo. It remained tight throughout the first set, as Woods didn't hold another three-point lead until
Ava Klinger's ace handed the Owls set one.
Remaining back and forth, neither Woods nor Friends took control of the second set until the Owls went on a 6-2 run to earn the first of its set-high six-point leads at 20-14. WWU soared to a six-point advantage two more times at 21-15 and 22-16 on a Campos Mello kill and Zoe Grolnic error, respectively. One would think the Owls were on their way to winning set two, but the Falcons finished the set by scoring six points unanswered, ending on five WWU attack errors after a Curran kill started the set-deciding scoring surge.
The third set was just as competitive as the two before it; the Owls and Falcons gained no more than a three-point lead. Friends recorded the first three-point third-set advantage at 10-7 when Lujan and Loren Morazzano notched a kill in succession, but WWU fought back and scored three points with no reply off two Emily Robbins attack errors and a
Reanna Dodge kill in the middle of them to gain a 19-16 cushion. From there, the Falcons put up five consecutive points to send them ahead by three for the second time in the set at 23-20 before the Owls capped it on a 5-0, with Durazo posting two kills during it.
Friends held the momentum to start the fourth set, taking its largest lead at 9-7 from two Owls attack and one service error. William Woods responded by going on a 6-0 run - two Campos Mello kills and Durazo assists in that time - to make it 17-13 Owls. WWU never trailed from that point on and went ahead by as much as six points before a Campos Mello kill provided by Treis gave the Owls the match-set point.
Wrapping up the Evangel University Quad with a statement win, William Woods' menacing blocking trio of
Lauren Adams, Durazo and
Andressa M. Borges went up for a match-high five blocks apiece as the Owls tallied 10 blocks to CSM's seven. Additionally, WWU registered a .271 hitting percentage, 54 kills, seven aces, 44 assists and 68 digs, while the Flames had a .247 hitting percentage, 58 kills, six aces, 53 assists and 77 digs.
"This team is very talented!" Cook said. "I know they just dropped from 17th or so in the top 25 to receiving votes. They've faced some big competition and accrued some losses, and so have we. It was a great matchup. They came out firing, and we were slow to start in our new lineup. We quickly jumped back to what we have been practicing to hold steady and come back in set two. It was a battle back and forth, and we had to fight for everything we had. We made some amazing plays defensively, I have never seen us do before. We wanted that game, and we were determined to take it."
Along with Borges' blocking brilliance, fellow Brazilians
Juliana Neves with a career-, co-team-high 16 assists, and
Luciana Paiva Pereira with a season-, team-high 14 kills, commanded the court for WWU.
Although the Owls went on to dominate, CSM led from the first point on in set one, ending it on a 6-0 run to take the set by 10 points. Half of the Flames' points during that stretch were produced by Azaria Green, who recorded two blocks and a kill.
In the second set, William Woods showed it can deal with adversity, going down 12-8 early before coming back with a 4-0 run to go on top 13-12; Durazo and Borges had a kill and block in that period. After that, CSM knotted it at 16, and then Neves notched a kill to give the Owls the lead for the rest of set two, with a Paiva Pereira kill giving them the set.
William Woods carried its solid finish to set two into three and ensured the Flames didn't go in front by more than a point. And, the Owls scored four unanswered points twice, the first giving them their first five-point lead of the set at 16-11 and the second their first nine-point advantage at 22-13 - WWU's leading blocking trio played a part in both points. Adams posted her third and final kill of the third set - also had a block - to send the Owls in front 2-1.
Battling point for point, Woods scored the first two of the fourth set before falling into a 9-4 hole. That didn't faze the Owls, eventually regaining the upper hand at 19-18 thanks to a 5-1 run. Soon after, CSM tallied four straight points to hold a 22-20 lead before WWU countered with a set-, match-deciding 5-1 run. Paiva Pereira saved her best set for last, recording seven kills, including the final point off a Treis helper, her team-high 189th assist this season.
The Owls will play in Fulton for the first time since their season-opening triangular, hosting crosstown rival Westminster (1-8) at 7 p.m. Tuesday inside Anderson Arena. WWU controls the all-time series 31-2, holding the longest winning streak of the matchup at 12 after defeating the Blue Jays 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-14, 25-20) at the Historic Gym last year.
