FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University volleyball team opens up the 2017 campaign on Wednesday, August 23rd when they travel to Culver-Stockton College.
 
Last season, the Owls finished the season with a 21-14 overall record and an 8-4 record in the AMC, which placed them fifth in the conference.

Nehls Leads the Way
This season, the Owls are led by Ashley Nehls. Nehls was named the 11th coach in Owls Volleyball Program history on January 20th. Nehls comes to William Woods after serving as a Club Volleyball Head coach for H2 Columbia and Dodge City Community College, where she was the head coach from 2013-2016. While at Dodge City CC, Nehls teams had 20 plus Academic All-Americans had a team GPA of 3.6 and above and she had four players transfer to NCAA Division I programs.
 
2017 Roster
The Owls return 10 players for last year's team, including 2016 NAIA Honorable Mention selection Brittney Engelbrecht. The Owls have three seniors on the team this year, Abby Ferguson, Kameryn Bellinger and Engelbrecht. Rounding out the upper classman are Melanie Kala, Tory Wiley and Rayleen Rivera, who are juniors. Rivera joins the Owls after transferring from Pasadena City College.
 
The Owls have five sophomores, Megan Rogers, Jessica Jensen, Jaclyn Zahn, Kira Krebill and Kayton Coffee. The Owls welcome six freshmen to the squad this season, Kate Doerhoff, Kylie Zamboni-Cutter, Amber Chevalier, Sydney Bullock, Brooke Reed and Remie Johnson.
 
Recapping 2016
For the third straight season, the William Woods University volleyball team won 20 or more games and they finished fifth in the American Midwest Conference. The Owls advanced to the AMC semifinals before they were eliminated by Park University. During the season the Owls saw milestones hit as Victoria Day recorded her 1,000 career kill, Brittney Engelbrecht dished her 3,000 career assists and saw six Owls earn All-AMC honors. Last season, the Owls went 5-6 at Anderson Arena, 9-3 in true road games and 7-5 at neutral site contests.
 
All-AMC Returners
Last season, the Owls had six members of the team earn 2016 All-American Midwest Conference Teams. The Owls return four of the six players who earned All-Conference honors. Returning this season are last year's First Team selections Brittney Engelbrecht and Jessica Jensen. Joining Engelbrecht and Jensen are Honorable Mention Selections Tory Wiley and Melanie Kala.
 
Dishing Out Assists
Over her first three seasons, senior Brittney Engelbrecht dished out 3,893 assists. She has recorded 1,000 or more assists in each of her first three seasons for the Owls. Her 3,893 assists have her sitting second in the school history and 1,244 assists away from the career school record. Her three-year totals for assists in a season are: freshman (1,365), sophomore (1,291) and junior (1,237).
 
Playing at Anderson Arena
This season the Owls host 10 games at Anderson Arena, including hosting Missouri Baptist University and Park University. Over the last three years at Anderson Arena the Owls are 20-17.
 
First Home Game
The 2017 Owls open its first six games on the road before playing its first game at Anderson Arena. The Owls open its home scheduled on September 5th when they host Haskell Indian Nations University at 7 p.m. This will be the third ever meeting between the Owls and the Indians. WWU is 2-0 against Haskell.
 
Looking at the Owls Schedule
Taking a look at the Owls 2017 schedule, they play nine NAIA Volleyball National Championship qualifiers. William Woods will appear at Anderson Arena 10 times during the 2017 season, including a five of the last six games of the regular season (Oct. 20, 23, 25, Nov. 1 & 3).

During the last five of six games of the regular season, the Owls will face 2015 NAIA national runner-up Missouri Baptist University on Oct. 23 and 2014 NAIA National Champions Park University on November 1st. The Owls close out its home schedule on Friday, November 3rd against Lincoln Christian University.
  
William Woods will take part in three tournaments this season. They will travel to Bellevue (Neb.) on September 1st and 2nd, Rose-Hulman Tournament on September 8th and 9th and Grand View Tournament on October 13th and 14th. 
 
WWU Record Book
Want to see what the school records are for the Owls Volleyball team? Click here to see the Volleyball's Record Book.