COLUMBUS, Miss. – Mississippi University for Women Volleyball evened its season record at 4-4, by winning two-of-three matches on the final day of its Owls Invitational. The W swept Agnes Scott College, 3-0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-16), lost to NAIA foe Dillard University (11-25, 17-25, 20-25), and won a five-set marathon over NCAA II Lane College (25-22, 26-24, 26-28, 17-25, 15-12) at Pohl Gym.
Overall, MUW went 3-1 in the tourney. The Owls are off to their best start in the six seasons since the program was revived (in 2017). The W has reached four wins faster than the 2019 squad which notched win No. 4 on September 21. The 2019 team also needed 14 games to reach that mark, while the 2022 team has done it in eight outings.
In its morning match versus Agnes Scott, the Owls had 30 assists on its 35 kills for the contest.
Hannah Duran led the team with 18 helps, with
Camryn Johnson dishing off eight assists.
Maggie Griggs led the Owls' attack with 10 kills and three aces.
Amonie Silas added eight kills and a .389 attack average, to go along with a pair of blocks.
Maddy Suggs commanded the back row with 21 digs. Teammate
Llayne Skinner chipped in 11 digs and had five aces (half of the team's total of 10 in the match).
A very strong Dillard team more than doubled MUW's kill total (47-22). Silas had another nice effort with seven kills in 14 attempts, with no errors, for a .500 attack average in the loss.
In the tournament's final match, The W and Lane went the distance before the Owls claimed the victory. A balanced offensive effort saw three Owls – Griggs, Silas and
Jasmine Kelly – all reach double figures in kills. Griggs paced the team by knocking down 14 winners, to go along with six digs.
Silas and Kelly each booked 10 kills. Skinner narrowly missed joi9ning the double-digit club, with nine kills. Skinner also registered 17 digs.
But the backrow was owned by the libero Suggs. Suggs shattered her own single-match, five-set record for digs with 38 versus the Dragons. Suggs' previous best was 26 last season versus Pensacola Christian.
Griggs and
Micaela Hudgins each had three blocks. Duran and Johnson had 22 and 15 assists, respectively.