Owls Defeat Euts in Straight Sets

The Eutectic women's volleyball team hosted the William Woods University Owls of Fulton, Mo., on Thursday night for an American Midwest Conference (AMC) matchup in the UHSP gymnasium. The Owls (22-8, 5-3 AMC) won in straight sets to maintain their undefeated status against the Eutectics, now 11-0 since 2013.

The Eutectics started off strong, going up 3-0 in the first set with back-to-back kills by Macy Hendrix from Jenna Brinson and an ace by Sydney Smith. UHSP continued in that vein to go up 6-1 when WWU called a timeout. Upon their return to the court, the Owls' setter Erin Treis set up Kassidy Phillips for to find holes in the Eutectic defense and score the next seven points in a row. The Eutectics were able to break up the WWU scoring run, but the momentum had clearly shifted to the visitors, who allowed only nine more points by the Eutectics for the rest of the set. Despite the early lead, the Euts fell 25-15 to head into Set 2 at a deficit.

The Purple and Gold took a slight lead of 5-4 in Set 2, after a kill from Amber Loo assisted by Brinson, who followed that up with an ace. But, the Owls would outscore the Euts 9-2 in the next few minutes, as the WWU blocking pressure forced errors by the Eutectics. Up 18-11, the visitors would close out the set with seven kills in a row, including four from Phillips, to take the second set at 25-11.

The WWU scoring streak would continue into the third set, as the Owls won 12 points in a row, including three blocks. Darlene Zediker was finally able to break the streak knocking down a kill set up by Brinson. Seizing the moment, the Eutectics began to close the gap, going on a 10-6 run punctuated by aces from Amber Loo and Sumanpreet Kaur to come within seven points at 18-11. But, the Owls refused to allow the Euts to catch up, winning seven of the next nine points to take the set at 25-13 and clinch the match.

Libero Josie Barrand dug up 16 WWU attacks for the Eutectics, passing to setter Jenna Brinson for 19 kills. Amber Loo and Macy Hendrix each had six kills, while Brinson was involved in both UHSP blocks.  

The Owls' Kassidy Phillips hit at .462, notching 18 kills in the match. Lauren Adams had seven kills on 14 attempts (.432) and recorded six blocks. WWU, who ranks sixth in the NAIA for total blocks, added seven more to that tally during the match.

The loss puts the UHSP overall record at 3-26 and 2-6 in the AMC. The Euts will take a break from Conference play as they try to avenge last week's loss at Fontbonne University in a 7 p.m. match in the UHSP gym on Wednesday, Nov. 1.