MARSHALL, Mo. - Finishing off a four-win weekend at the Viking Invitational, William Woods University (7-2) beat John Brown University (4-3) in four sets before sweeping former American Midwest Conference opponent Central Baptist College (0-5) Saturday at Burns Athletic Complex.
"The first game was a battle - four sets, where we had to dig deep and fight for every single point," Owls setter
Erin Treis said. "After pulling out that win, we came back for our second game with even more energy, and it turned into such a fun match. So proud of this team and the determination it took to stay undefeated this weekend!"Â
"After a weekend of really finding ourselves, we ended on a high note with our best play of the weekend," William Woods volleyball coach Aubrey Wilson said. "Super proud of this team for digging deep and finding a way all weekend long. We set a good baseline for ourselves and will only continue to get better from here. Excited to open conference play after an undefeated weekend."
John Brown Match
The Owls overcame their first-set struggles against the Golden Eagles, taking the contest 22-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-21. William Woods served up its second straight eight-ace game as a team. And, John Brown also did well in that department with 14, but the Owls had 55 kills with a .302 hitting percentage to the Golden Eagles' 43 with a .144 percentage.
As was the case on Friday, William Woods lost its only set Saturday when it had hitting struggles, posting a .161 percentage with 13 kills in the first set. John Brown didn't fare any better, however, with 10 kills on a .138 percentage. WWU earned its largest lead of the set early, 11-8, using an 8-2 run to get there as three Owls put down a kill, including two from
Lennon Adams, whose second capped the stretch.
Pamela Durazo handed Woods its final advantage of the set, 15-14, as the Owls' attacking struggles late allowed the Golden Eagles to go up 1-0 in the match.
Turning it around, the Owls flipped a switch and hit .435 with 13 kills in set two. Still, resiliency was required for Woods to win the set, having to dig itself out of an early five-point hole (7-2). After going on a 7-2 run to tie it at 9, WWU went on top for good when it had an 8-4 stretch to hold a 17-13 advantage. During the set-deciding run, Durazo and Treis served aces, and
Nora Loeffler,
Giovanna Ishii and
Luciana Paiva Pereira each recorded a kill. Durazo notched her second kill of the set from Treis' sixth assist of the set to take the second set and tie the contest at 1.
William Woods commanded the court early in set three, already going in front for good on the third point of the set (2-1). The Owls solidified their advantage with a 9-2 run, featuring two kills from Paiva Pereira and one apiece from Adams,
Lorenza Lagana and Durazo. Already holding an 11-3 lead, Woods went up by as much as 12 points twice, first at 18-6 and second at 20-8, on its way to winning the set and going ahead 2-1 for the match.
Earning the four-set win, the Owls registered a set-high 16 kills with a .387 hitting percentage in set four. William Woods had to claw its way to the triumph after it allowed John Brown to score the first six points. Eventually, the Owls went on a 9-4 run to pick up their first lead of the set, 17-16. However, the Golden Eagles fought back and led 21-20 before William Woods denied them with five unanswered points to match-set point - Paiva Pereira with two kills, Adams with one kill and JBU with two attack errors in that time.
Paiva Pereira joined good company in the WWU record book - Tory Wiley (vs. Baker University; Sep. 2, 2016), Victoria Day (at College of the Ozarks; Sep. 15, 2016) and Kassidy Philips (at Avila University; Oct. 10, 2023) - as her match-high 22 kills put her in a tie for fifth in single-game kills, and she did it with a .459 hitting percentage.
Durazo also shined offensively for the Owls, posting 10 kills, three aces and a match-high three blocks. And, Treis tallied a match-high 28 assists.
Central Baptist Match
William Woods played an even stronger match against the Mustangs on their way to a 25-15, 25-11, 25-15 victory. Just like the first match, William Woods' attacking numbers sparked it to the win, recording 41 kills with a .417 hitting percentage and a tremendous 10 aces to CBC's 19 kills with a .013 hitting percentage and three aces.
A 5-0 set-starting run in the first set gave the Owls the advantage throughout the set. Pavia Pereira put down five kills, Treis dished out nine assists in William Woods' 10-point set victory.
Set two, the Owls did more of the same to a greater extent, jumping out to a 9-0 lead, featuring back-to-back
Ivi Marcolino aces in the run. For the set, Marcolino notched four kills, three aces and an assist - her final kill from
Ryleigh Sander's assist handed Woods set point.
Easily finishing off the straight set win, William Woods got out of a 2-1 deficit and didn't look back during its set-deciding 7-2 run that saw the Owls hold an 8-3 lead. Sander served two aces,
Roberta Carlos de Silva recorded three kills and Treis had four assists - three straight to begin the run - during that period. A 4-0 run with three Mustangs errors gave WWU its biggest lead of the set at 21-10, breezing to the sweep from there.
Leading the Owls in the contest were Paiva Pereira and Marcolino with a co-match-high 11 kills, Durazo and Marcolino with a co-match-high three aces, Treis with a match-high 21 assists and
Allie Miller with a match-high 11 digs.
Up Next
William Woods will compete in its first-ever Heart of America Athletic Conference match when it faces Graceland University (3-7) at 7 p.m. Friday at Morden Center in Lamoni, Iowa. The Owls are 3-7 all-time against the Yellowjackets, but they've won the two most recent matchups.
