OTTAWA, Kan. - The William Woods Owls were defeated by Ottawa University in the first round of the NAIA National Championships, falling 14-25, 24-26, 25-19, 25-20 on Saturday.
Kate Doerhoff had a match-high 17 kills, and Hannah Kuehl (13) and Baylie Petrie (12) added in the attack, as William Woods hit .158 as a team with 56 kills and 28 attack errors. The Braves hit .230 with 54 kills and 13 attack errors.
Setter Tess Schannuth had 49 assists for the Owls, Tori Roseman added a match-best 32 digs, Riley Alton had 17 digs and Emily Grief added 15 digs.
William Woods led 6-4 in the opening set before Ottawa used a 14-2 run to lead 18-8. In the second set, the Braves led 12-4, but the Owls fought back to within three, at 16-13, and used a 7-0 run to take the lead with kills from Kuehl and Petry and an ace and a kill from Ally Konarzewski. William Woods had set point at 24-21 but Ottawa used a 5-0 run to take the set.
The Owls opened the third set on an 8-2 run thanks to four kills from Lanie Lowry and the lead grew as large as nine, at 19-10, then a Doerhoff kill brought up set point and an attack error gave William Woods the third set.
The Braves trailed 12-9 in the fourth set before reeling off an 8-0 run to take control for good.
William Woods ends the season at 12-4.