Avila Caps Three-Match Week with Takedown of Bethany

Avila volleyball had a busy week of action, facing William Woods in Mabee Fieldhouse on Tuesday, taking on KCAC frontrunners (21) Ottawa in Ottawa on Wednesday, and then traveling to Lindsborg on Friday afternoon to face Bethany. And in the three matches, the Eagles experienced three different results: Avila fell to William Woods in five sets, lost to Ottawa in straights, and closed the week by defeating Bethany in four.

Back at home in Kansas City for the first game of their three-match week, the Eagles faced off with William Woods for the first time since 2021 in what quickly became a very exciting match. The teams split the first two sets in an even start to the game before Avila put together an excellent third set, holding the Owls to a negative hit percentage to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Eagles had their chances – many of them, in fact – to win the match, but the Owls were able to strap in and fend off a half dozen Avila match point chances in the game. For the second time this season, the Eagles played a set where the victor needed to win over 30 points to win the game – William Woods pulled out a 31-29 win in set four to force the match into a decider, where the Owls barely pulled out a 16-14 win to escape Kansas City with a five-set win.

Kassidy Phillips led all players with 22 kills on a whopping 78 attempts, and Avila had no answer for middle Lauren Adams, who tallied 17 kills on .424 hitting. Sydney Owns led the Eagles with 17 kills and a career-high 29 digs; Siobhan Dittmer had a strong game with 10 kills on .320 hitting and five blocks; Abigail Blake set a season high with 34 digs.

The Eagles had a very quick turnaround before having to face the perennial top team in the KCAC, the Ottawa Braves, on Wednesday night in Ottawa. The Braves are currently the only nationally ranked team in the conference, clocking in at #21 nationally, and looked the part early Wednesday, holding Avila to just eight points in the first set.

The Eagles were much improved all phases over the final two sets, but the Braves still managed to win in a straightforward sweep to improve to 5-1 in KCAC matches this season. All-American middle Radaisy Valdez returned from a brief absence and led all players with 11 kills on .421 hitting; Avila middle Phoebe Riddle had her best game of the season, tying for the team lead with seven kills on .267 hitting.

Reeling a little bit from two losses earlier in the week, Avila headed west to Lindsborg to take on the Bethany Swedes on Friday afternoon, where the Eagles would ultimately snap a four-game losing streak by taking down the Swedes in four sets, Avila's second four-set win in conference play this season.

The Swedes did not help themselves by committing errors of all kinds in the match, and a much more clinical Avila squad was ready to capitalize and take full advantage. Avila's offense was never explosive, but the Eagles held the Swedes to a negative hit percentage in both the first and fourth sets to set the tone.

Samantha Carbajal led all players with 18 kills on .174 hitting, but no other Swede had a hit percentage over .070. Thrust into a starring role this week, Owens paced the Eagle offense with 13 kills along with 15 digs, her second double-double of the week; Dittmer and Diamond Sedlak both chipped in eight kills; setter Daphne Gardner tallied a double-double in the match as well even with Paige Gillund seeing some more reps in the offense; Blake led all players with 31 digs, her second game this week with 30-plus.

Avila will have a lighter week, relatively speaking, next week, starting with a return to Mabee Fieldhouse to face Baptist Bible College this coming Wednesday, October 18. First serve is scheduled for 6 PM; as always, you can watch all the action live and for free on the Avila Sports Network.