Avila Drops Conference Opener against Oklahoma Wesleyan

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Avila volleyball began the KCAC slate of its 2022 schedule against Oklahoma Wesleyan on Tuesday night in Mabee Fieldhouse, where a strong block and a diverse offense helped power the visiting Eagles (21-1, 1-0 KCAC) to a straight sets victory over the home side (8-9, 0-1 KCAC).

Oklahoma Wesleyan dominated its nonconference competition and began conference play looking about as strong as expected. Avila, though, played OKWU quite tough: OKWU won all three sets, but all three were close, and all were decided by nearly identical scorelines. The Avila defense held Oklahoma Wesleyan to nearly 100 points below their season average in hit percentage (.153) but the homestanding Eagles couldn't consistently break through the visitors' block (7-2 block edge for OKWU) to generate strong enough offense across the board.

Every set was tight, at least at one time or another. OKWU began the night by winning six of the first seven points of the match, but Avila stormed back to take a 13-11 lead, winning five straight points on Chloe Brundick's serve. OKWU then rallied back to move ahead 16-14, and the visitors were in control from there. Avila saved two set points, but a kill from Lauren McKinney wrapped up the set 25-19.

OKWU started out set two ahead 7-3, but back to back McKenzie Green kills helped Avila ultimately tie things up at nine apiece. Later though, three straight Avila attack errors pushed OKWU in front 14-9, and Avila could not make up the deficit. The third set was dead even in the early going, with the two teams nearly exchanging point for point up until three OKWU errors and a Phoebe Riddle kill helped Avila to a 5-1 run and a 17-15 lead.

That forced Oklahoma Wesleyan to use its first timeout of the match, and the visitors came out of the break on fire, scoring the next four points to vault in front. Addison Davis set up Kelsey Johnson to end the run, but back to back kills from Lauren McKinney got OKWU back in gear and cruised to the finish to wrap up the match in straights.

Lauren McKinney led all players with 13 kills, and three other Eagles had at least five. D'Ovion Williams led Avila with nine kills, and libero Abigail Blake led all players with 21 digs. Before the varsity match, the Avila varsity reserve squad defeated Oklahoma Wesleyan two sets to none in their first home match of the year.

Up next, Avila volleyball will take a brief break from conference play when the Eagles welcome NCAA Division II side Southwest Baptist to Mabee Fieldhouse this Friday, September 23. The match is scheduled for 1 PM; as always, you can watch all the action on the Avila Sports Network.