Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 St. Louis, Mo. - The 22^nd-ranked Columbia volleyball team extended its winning streak to seven games today with a pair of victories at the Spartan Invitational, hosted by Missouri Baptist University. The Cougars defeated Friends (Kan.) University 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-14) in their first match of the day and followed that up with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-14) win over Trinity International (Ill.) University in the nightcap. With the two victories, Columbia improves to 17-4 on the season.

In game one against the Falcons, the Cougars got off to an early 8-1 lead but Friends used a pair of 4-0 runs to battle their way back for a 25-20 win. Columbia responded in the next set with an 8-2 run to begin the game. However, the Falcons fought their way back once again to take a late 22-21 lead. Facing a potential 2-0 deficit, the Cougars reeled off a 4-1 run to end the game, capped off with a kill and service ace by Sarah Schwentker. Columbia trailed 11-10 midway through game three, but used a 5-0 run to grab the lead for good on their way to a 25-17 victory. Much like the previous three games, a 6-0 run by the Cougars proved to be the difference in game four as Columbia sealed the match with a 25-14 win.

The Cougars finished with 60 kills on the afternoon, led by a match-high 16 kills from Schwentker. Paula Rosa added 14 kills and 17 digs, while Lydie van Deursen logged 48 assists to lead all players.

Columbia used two separate 5-1 spurts midway through game one against the Trojans to take a 1-0 lead in their second match of the day. The Cougars battled back from an 11-7 deficit in game two and took the lead for good after a kill by Viktoriia Lavrenchenko put them ahead 15-14. Trinity International stayed within striking distance prior to a 7-1 run by Columbia to close the game, capped off by a kill from Wenwen Han. The Cougars eliminated any hopes of a Trojan comeback by taking 13 of the first 15 points to start game three. Columbia coasted to the victory from there, taking the game by a score of 25-14.

Aline Rosario and Carol Berger led the Cougars with nine and ten kills, respectively. Han and Erin Pavlin each contributed six digs to the Columbia attack and van Deursen finished with a match-high 25 assists.

The Cougars will be back in action at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow to take on Cornerstone (Mich.) University. Columbia will wrap up play in the Invitational with a 1:00 p.m. matchup against 19^th-ranked Grand View (Iowa) University. Both matches will be played on the campus of Missouri Baptist University and will also have live stats available on the Cougar Volleyball schedule page.