The Braves finished last weekend with a record of 1-2. Ottawa lost 3-0 to nationally ranked Missouri Valley College last Friday afternoon but rebounded to take a 3-2 win over Westcliff University later Friday night. OU lost to no. 13 Missouri Baptist University on Saturday afternoon in Wilson Field House.
In the loss to Missouri Valley, the Braves finished the match with 19 kills, a .109 attacking percentage, 16 assists, four service aces, 23 digs, and 7.5 team blocks.
Akeil Williams led OU with seven kills and five blocks.
Andrew Salinas had 11 assists.
Anthony Calderon led the Braves with two service aces.
Kayden Kirby finished the match with seven digs.
Ottawa finished its match against Westcliff with 44 kills, a 0.076 attacking percentage, 41 assists, three service aces, 51 digs, and nine team blocks.
Akeil Williams finished with a double-double. He had 21 kills and 13 digs. Williams also had seven blocks and a .500 attacking percentage.
Andrew Salinas led OU with 23 assists and
Kayden Kirby finished with 14.
Anthony Calderon led OU with two service aces and he had 10 digs.
The Braves had 19 kills, a .042 attacking percentage, 16 assists, one service ace, 12 digs, and five team blocks in its loss to no. 13 Missouri Baptist.
Kadeem Morris led OU with six kills,
Grant Younie ad five kills, and
Akeil Williams finished with four kills.
Andrew Salinas finished with nine assists. Williams led the Braves with four digs and five blocks.
Through three matches this season, Ottawa is averaging 7.4 kills per set, 6.6 assists per set, 1.9 blocks per set, 0.7 service aces per set, and 7.8 digs per set. OU has a .075 attacking percentage.
The Braves are ranked 29th in the NAIA in kills (82), 48th in attacking percentage (.075), 31st in assists (73), 37th in service aces (8), 46th in service aces per set (0.7), 10th in receptions (207), fifth in reception errors (21), 15th in digs (86), 35th in digs per set (7.8), 14th in solo blocks (7), sixth in block assists (29), eighth in total blocks (22), and 17th in blocks per set (1.9).
Akeil Williams leads the Braves in kills (2.9) per set, digs (1.8), and blocks (1.5).
Andrew Salinas is OU's leader in assists (3.9) per set and
Anthony Calderon is the team's leader in service aces per set (0.3).
Akeil Williams was named NAIA and GPAC Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in OU's three matches last week. He finished the week with 20 digs and 17 blocks. Williams averaged 6.6 digs per match and 1.8 digs per set. He had 5.6 blocks per match and 1.5 blocks per set. In OU's 3-2 win over Westcliff, he had 13 digs and seven blocks to go along with 21 kills.
Wednesday is the 15th meeting between Ottawa University and Morningside University. Ottawa leads the series, 10-4, and the Braves are on a three match winning streak. OU won both match last season, defeating the Mustangs 3-0 on Jan. 25, 2022 in Wilson Field House and 3-1 in Sioux City, Iowa on Feb. 24, 2022. The first meeting between Ottawa and Morningside was on Jan. 15, 2016 in Wilson Field House. OU fell 3-2 to the Mustangs. The Braves are 4-3 in Sioux City against Morningside.
Morningside University is 1-3 to open the 2023 season. The Mustangs lost to Cardinal Stritch 3-2 last Friday but rebounded to take a 3-1 victory over Clarke. On Jan. 28, Morningside lost 3-0 to Viterbo and fell 3-1 to Lakeland.
In four matches, Morningside is averaging 10.1 kills per set, 9.3 assists per set, 1 block per set, 2.1 service aces per set, and 9 digs per set. The Mustangs have a .154 attacking percentage.
Morningside is ranked third in the NAIA in total kills (163), 30th in kills per set (10.1), first in errors (97), first in total attacks (428), 35th in attacking percentage (.154), fifth in assists (149), 32nd in assists per set (9.3), second in service aces (35), first in service errors (81), 13th in service aces per set (2.1), first in receptions (294), third in reception errors (25), second in digs (145), 17th in digs per set (9.06), 40th in solo blocks (2), sixth in block assists (29), 21st in total blocks (17), 44th in blocks per set (1.03), and fourth in blocking errors (7).
Natan Alves leads Morningside in kills (2.6) per set. Jacob DePauw leads the team in assists (8.6) and service aces (0.5) per set. Owen Anderson is MU's leader in digs (2.5) per set and Tharen Cox is the Mustangs' leader in blocks (0.5) per set.
