Volleyball sweeps Oakwood, moves up in GCAC standings

The Wiley College volleyball team closed its homestand on a high note with a sweep over Oakwood University (25-15, 27-25, 25-11) Sunday in a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference match at Alumni Gymnasium.

The victory snapped a five-match losing streak at home and moved the Lady Wildcats into sixth place in the GCAC standings. The win also gives them the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Ambassadors.

Wiley College (4-15, 4-8 GCAC) outhit Oakwood .250 to .052 and outscored them 41-23 in kills. It also held the edge in serving putting down eight aces and benefiting from six errors by the Ambassadors. Oakwood outdid the Lady Wildcats on the block 6-3.

East Texans Brayleigh Mitchell and Shyla Starks powered the Lady Wildcats offense with 12 kills apiece. Kya Gray added six and Shayla Arthur contributed five. Kyra Woods led the team with 17 assists and three service aces. She was two digs shy of a double-double with eight. LeAndria Jackson followed with 15 assists to go along with five digs. Nadia Cortez posted a team-high 13 digs while contributing two service aces. Ashlee Traylor had a solo block and a block assist.

The Lady Wildcats pulled out to a four-point lead in the first set on an ace by Cortez and a kill by Mitchell. They built their lead as high as seven. Oakwood made a run to trim the margin to two. Kills by Starks and Traylor pushed the lead to five. Mitchell sealed the first set with a kill.

In the second set, Starks got two kills and Arthur got an ace to give the Lady Wildcats a three-point lead. A service error and two attack errors led to a five-point run for the Ambassadors which put Wiley College behind 17-13. A solo block by Traylor, a kill by Mitchell and an ace by Cortez pulled it within one at 20-19. Two attack errors gave the Lady Wildcats a 22-21 lead. A service error put Wiley College in position to claim set point. Oakwood got a kill to extend the set. It staved off another set point. A service error and a set error wrapped the set for the Lady Wildcats.

Wiley College dominated the final set. It went on an eight-point run with T'aja Hardy serving. Starks got a kill and assisted Arthur on a block. Hardy picked up two aces to increase the Lady Wildcats' two-point lead to 10. Oakwood didn't score more than two consecutive points. Starks ended the match with her 12th kill.

The Lady Wildcats will began a three-match road swing in New Orleans on Friday. They will play a doubleheader at GCAC newcomer Southern University-New Orleans. The road trip will conclude with a match at Dillard University on October 21.

For more coverage on the Lady Wildcats visit https://wileyathletics.com/sports/wvball/index

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