WBU Volleyball Loses to Cottey College

NEVADA, Mo. (10/24/23)  – The Williams Baptist University women's volleyball team lost to Cottey College 25-16, 27-25, 23-25, 25-22 in an American Midwest Conference volleyball matchup Tuesday night. 

Hope Raymond led the team with 15 kills and 20 digs on the night, while Faith Raymond led the squad with 28 digs on the night. Laykin Harkcom collected 19 digs, while Sophie Allred led the squad with 22 assists. Halli Bollinger-Young also finished in double-digits with 13 kills in the evening.

Cottey led throughout much of the first set as it built a 10-5 lead early on and never saw its lead shrink below four throughout the set. 

Williams led for almost the entirety of the second set, clinging to a narrow margin. Hope Raymond set WBU up on set with a kill at 24-20, but the Comets reeled off five straight points to take a 25-24 edge of their own. An attack error tied the match, but Cottey got back-to-back kills from Kyleigh Talbott to take the set a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Eagles did not let the comeback get them down in the third set and they built their advantage to 12-9 early on. Cottey pulled ahead by two points several times in the set, and each time WBU refused to let the Comets pull away. 

Hope Raymond put Williams up 19-18 late in the set and the Eagles continued to push out their advantage. A Tinleigh Ruhman kill made it 22-19 and a kill from Dayshia Espinosa setup set point, which the Lady Eagles converted on an attack error by Cottey.

The Comets responded in the fourth set and quickly went up 15-9. Williams closed the gap to 18-14 and continued to work on the Comets and got within 22-21 after an ace by Hope Raymond. Cottey managed  to find its footing, however, and converted three of the next four points to close out the set. 

Williams returns to the court Friday, Oct. 27 for a road matchup at Freed-Hardeman. First serve is set for 6 p.m.