Columbia, Mo. – The 10^th-ranked Columbia College volleyball dropped a heartbreaker to the 3^rd-ranked Missouri Baptist Spartans tonight in the American Midwest Conference Game of the Week. The match went down to the wire, with the Spartans coming out on top 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 25-18, 20-25, 15-17). With the loss, the Cougars fall to 13-5 on the season and 5-1 in AMC play while the Spartans improve to 20-1 overall and 9-0 in league play.

The Cougars jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in game one, but Missouri Baptist battled back to eventually tie the score at 10. The Spartans would use an 8-1 run to gain separation and never trailed from there. The Cougars worked to chip away at the Spartans lead, but couldn't gain an advantage as Missouri Baptist took the 25-19 first set win.

Missouri Baptist kept things close in the second set, but never led as the Cougars captured the 25-22 win to tie the match at one game apiece. Columbia hit 0.333 in the set while limiting the Spartans to a 0.140 hitting efficiency.  

In game three, both teams battled for points as neither squad led by more than two for most of the set. With the score tied at 17, a kill and service ace by Mikah Simpson and an attack error by the Spartans, would give the Cougars a 20-17 advantage, causing Missouri Baptist to call a timeout.

Two more aces by Simpson and a kill by Penny Liu pushed the Columbia lead to 23-17. The Cougars would put the game away from there after another error by the Spartans and a kill by Eirini Chatziefstratiadou to go up 2-1 in the match.

Missouri Baptist took the first four points in set three, and led 14-9 midway through the game. The Spartans maintained the five point lead, until a kill by Maria Franco pulled the Cougars within three at 18-15. Missouri Baptist extended their lead back out, taking the next three points and would pull away with the 24-20 third set win, forcing a fifth game.

The Cougars took an early 7-4 lead, but the Spartans came fighting back to tie the game at eight. The teams traded points back and forth, tying the game three more times, until two kills by Liu, and an attack error gave the Cougars the 14-11 advantage. Four Cougar errors allowed the Spartans to take a 15-14 lead, but a kill by Chatziefstratiadou tied the game back up at 15. However, back-to-back kills by Missouri Baptists' Hannah Carey gave the Spartans the set and match victory.

Columbia hit 0.288 for the night behind a team-high 17 kills by Liu. Amber Graham chipped in 14 kills while Chatziefstratiadou and Polina Severina finished with 12 and 10, respectively. Simpson recorded a match-high 15 digs and Sashiko Heredia dished out 54 assists.

The Cougars return to the court this weekend as they head to St. Louis, Mo. to participate in the Spartan Invitational hosted by Missouri Baptist University. On October 9^th, Columbia will take on AMC member Harris-Stowe State University at 4:00 p.m. followed by York College at 8:00 p.m. On day two, the Cougars will face Faulkner University (Ala.) at 1:00 p.m. and wrap up play with a re-match against Missouri Baptist at 5:00 p.m.