OTTAWA, Kan. – The Ottawa University women's volleyball team earned a four-set victory over Friends University on Wednesday evening at Wilson Field House. The Braves defeated the Falcons 25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 25-12.
Bailee Nickel led the Ottawa offense with a match-high 25 kills and a .409 attacking percentage.
Campbell Stark added 13 kills without an attacking error, finishing with a .591 hitting percentage.
Ottawa finished the match with 61 kills and a .271 team attacking percentage while holding Friends to a .102 hitting percentage.
The Braves controlled the fourth set, hitting .400 and holding the Falcons to a negative hitting percentage to secure the conference victory.
How It Happened
Set One: Ottawa 25, Friends 22
The Braves overcame a late Friends rally to take the opening set, 25-22.
Ottawa jumped out to a 4-1 lead behind two kills from Stark and one from
Ciara Gray. The Braves continued to build their advantage, taking a 14-10 lead following consecutive blocks involving Stark, Cherry and Gray.
Friends battled back, eventually taking a 21-20 lead after scoring five straight points. Ottawa responded with a decisive five-point run. Gray delivered three kills during the stretch, while a block by
Tymerian Carrathus and
Kira Cherry helped give the Braves a 24-21 advantage.
Following a Friends point, a Falcon service error gave Ottawa the 25-22 victory.
The Braves finished the opening set with 16 kills and a .278 attacking percentage.
Set Two: Ottawa 25, Friends 19
Ottawa rallied from an early five-point deficit to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Friends opened the second set by scoring the first five points, forcing an Ottawa timeout. The Braves responded, using a combination of strong blocking and timely kills to tie the score at 7-7.
Back-to-back blocks involving Carrathus and Nickel gave Ottawa an 8-7 advantage. The teams continued to battle before kills from Nickel and Stark helped Ottawa build a 14-12 lead.
The Braves maintained control through the remainder of the set. Nickel delivered three consecutive kills to push Ottawa's advantage to 21-17. Additional kills from Cherry and Carrathus gave the Braves set point at 24-18.
A Friends service error ended the set, giving Ottawa a 25-19 victory.
Ottawa recorded 15 kills and a .231 attacking percentage in the second set.
Set Three: Friends 25, Ottawa 22
The Falcons extended the match with a 25-22 victory in the third set.
Ottawa started strong, taking a 6-3 lead behind kills from Nickel, Stark and Cherry. Friends responded with a run to take control of the set, eventually building an 11-8 advantage.
The Braves continued to battle, using kills from Nickel, Gray and
Una Grbic to remain within striking distance.
Friends extended its lead to 20-15 before Ottawa mounted a late comeback. Grbic delivered two kills, and Stark added consecutive kills to cut the deficit to 22-20.
The Braves continued to fight, with Stark and Nickel recording kills to make the score 24-22. However, a Friends kill ended the set and forced a fourth.
Ottawa finished the third set with 15 kills and a .200 attacking percentage.
Set Four: Ottawa 25, Friends 12
The Braves dominated the fourth set to close out the match.
Ottawa scored the first four points of the set, highlighted by a kill from Gray and a block by Stark and Cherry.
The Braves continued their strong start, using a kill from
Madison Brauner to take an 8-3 lead. Ottawa then put together a five-point scoring run to extend its advantage to 14-4. Nickel recorded two kills during the run, while the Braves' defense forced multiple Friends attacking errors.
Ottawa maintained its double-digit advantage throughout the remainder of the set. Kills from Cherry, Gray and Stark pushed the Braves' lead to 23-11.
Nickel delivered a kill to give Ottawa match point at 24-12, and
Rilyn Conard finished the contest with a kill to secure the 25-12 victory.
The Braves recorded 15 kills with just three attacking errors in the fourth set, finishing with a match-best .400 hitting percentage. Ottawa held Friends to four kills and a -.077 attacking percentage in the final set.
Inside the Box Score
- Bailee Nickel led the Braves with a match-high 25 kills, hitting .409 on 44 attempts. She also finished with 12 digs and three block assists, recording a double-double.
- Campbell Stark finished with 13 kills and no attacking errors on 22 attempts for a match-high .591 hitting percentage. She added one solo block and four block assists.
- Ciara Gray recorded seven kills, four digs, one service ace and one block assist.
- Kira Cherry finished with five kills and five block assists.
- Rilyn Conard added four kills and one block assist.
- Madison Brauner and Makela Martinez each finished with 28 assists, combining for 56 assists.
- Carson Schuman led the Braves defensively with 17 digs and added three assists.
- Tymerian Carrathus finished with five block assists.
- Jezebel Hobbs recorded one service ace.
- Ottawa finished with 61 kills, 62 assists, 56 digs, two service aces and 11 total team blocks.
- The Braves hit .271 for the match, compared to .102 for Friends.
- Ottawa held a 61-38 advantage in kills and a 56-44 advantage in digs.
- The Braves improved to 11-9 overall and 8-2 in KCAC play, while Friends fell to 9-17 overall and 1-9 in conference action.
Who is Next
Ottawa (11-9, 8-2) returns to the court on Saturday, October 31 in Sterling, Kan. against Sterling College. The match is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.
