Box Score Sioux City, Iowa - The 11^th-ranked Cougar Volleyball team defeated Westmont (Calif.) College 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 25-19, 25-16) on Tuesday afternoon in their first pool play match of the 2013 NAIA Volleyball National Championship, presented by J&L Enterprises and CNOS Foundation. Columbia, the American Midwest Conference (AMC) regular season and tournament champions, improves to 29-9 overall on the year with the victory and has now won 12 straight matches dating back to October 23^rd. The Warriors, ranked 14^th in the Final NAIA Top 25 Poll, fall to 22-9.

With the score tied at 10-10 in game one of the match, the Cougars reeled off a 9-0 run on their way to a 25-17 win. Jordan Reid had two service aces during the run and Trinity Ojo led Columbia with six kills in the opening set. The Warriors would respond with a 25-21 victory in game two to even the match. The Cougars were forced to play from behind in game three, but back-to-back service aces by Shelby Gordon sparked an 8-0 run by Columbia as they took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-19 win. The Cougars took a quick 6-2 lead in set four, but a 3-0 run by Westmont midway through tied the game at 15. Following a kill by Paula Rosa, Erin Pavlin picked up back-to-back service aces as Columbia used another timely 6-0 run to close out the match with a 25-16 victory.

Rosa and Ojo led the Cougar attack with 20 kills and 19 kills, respectively. Setter Lydie van Deursen led all players with 50 assists, while Gordon had four of Columbia' 11 service aces. The Warriors were led by Sydney Striff with 10 kills.

The Cougars will resume pool play tomorrow afternoon with a matchup against Briar Cliff (Iowa) University, who fell 3-0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-21) to top-ranked Texas at Brownsville in Tuesday's earlier match. Columbia defeated Briar Cliff 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-14) during the regular season back on November 1^st. Match time is scheduled for 3:15 pm at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux Center, Iowa.