Box Score Columbia, Mo. - The Cougar volleyball team picked up a split on Saturday in the final day of play at the Hampton Inn Classic. Columbia defeated Evangel (Mo.) University 3-1 in the 11 a.m. match before dropping a 3-0 decision to the University of Texas at Brownsville. With the split, the Cougars move their record to 3-1 to the start the 2013 campaign.

The Cougars and Crusaders battled through a back-and-forth opening game with Columbia taking a 14-9 lead midway through the set after a 4-0 run that was capped off by a kill from Lydie van Deursen and an ace by Jordan Reid. Evangel was able to fight their way back and tie the score at 19, but the Cougars would take six of the next eight points and close out the game on another kill by van Deursen. Game two was another close affair up until a pair of service aces by Van Deursen fueled a 6-0 spurt by Columbia to put the host squad in front, 22-14. The Crusaders attempted to make things interesting with a 5-0 run of their own, but the Cougars closed out the game by claiming the last two points after Evangel pulled within two at 23-21. The Crusaders got off to a quick start in the third set, leading 10-5 early in the game. Columbia would claw their way back to tie the score at 16, but Evangel went on an 8-0 run from there to eventually take the game 25-19. The fourth game of the match featured a tight battle throughout once again. The Cougars took their biggest lead of the set at 17-13 and appeared to be in control, but the Crusaders used a 4-0 run to tie the game and eventually take a 24-22 advantage. Columbia would then fight back to tie the set at 25 and win the match after a service ace by Wenwen Han and a kill by Paula Rosa.

Han and senior Trinity Ojo combined to lead the Cougars with 13 and 11 kills, respectively. Junior Sarah Schwentker had a match-high 14 digs and van Deursen led all players with 37 assists. Micah Cribbs and Haley Watson each posted 12 kills for Evangel.

In their second match of the day, the Cougars couldn't overcome a 6-0 run by the Ocelots in game one after tying the score at 12 midway through the set. Columbia held an early advantage in game two and led 13-10 following a kill by Rosa and a pair of errors by Texas-Brownsville. However, the Ocelots would answer with a timely 4-0 run and go on to take the last four points of the game after the Cougars battled back to tie the score at 21. In game three, Columbia was unable to overcome an early deficit as Texas-Brownsville jumped out to an early 12-5 lead. After the Cougars fought back to within four at 18-14, the Ocelots closed out the game and the match with seven straight points.

Schwentker led the Columbia attack with eight kills in the match, while van Deursen chipped in 23 assists and senior Erin Pavlin added 10 digs. The Ocelots received a match-high 11 kills from Danica Markovic and 32 assists from Jade Guo.

The 12-person Hampton Inn Classic All-Tournament team will be announced tomorrow in addition to the Tournament MVP. For a complete list of this weekend's Hampton Inn Classic games and results, click here.

The Cougars will return to the court on Wednesday, September 4^th for a non-conference matchup with Culver-Stockton (Mo.) College. The match is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Arena of Southwell Complex.