Columbia, Mo. - The 5^th-ranked Cougar Volleyball team posted a 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-11) victory over Lyon College in the opening round of the American Midwest Conference (AMC) Tournament tonight. Columbia, the No. 2 seed, moves to 25-7 overall and improves their current winning streak to five games.

Columbia finished with 34 kills and a .333 hitting percentage on the night, led by 11 kills from Penny Liu. Liu and Mikah Simpson led all players with eight digs apiece while Sashiko Heredia dished out a match-high 30 assists.
Members of the Academic All-AMC team were also honored prior to the start of tonight's match. Columbia representatives included Viktoriia Lavrenchenko, Simpson, and Liu.

In today's latest release of the NAIA Top 25 Poll, the Cougars remained in the No. 5 spot in the national rankings.
No. 1 Missouri Baptist is still in control of the No. 1 spot after earning all 21 possible first-place votes and a total of 591 points.  Remaining in the No. 2 spot this week is Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) with 572 points. Viterbo and Vanguard claimed the No. 3 and No. 4 spots for the second straight week.

Columbia will move on to play No. 3 seed Park University in the semifinal round of the AMC Tournament on Friday, November 13^th.
The Pirates defeated No. 6 seed Lindenwood University-Belleville 3-0 tonight. Columbia will travel to Parkville, Mo. where the remainder of the tournament will be held and will begin play at 6:30 p.m.

Should the Cougars prevail against Park on Friday night, the Columbia College athletic department will be sponsoring a fan bus to the championship contest on Saturday, November 14^th.  Please contact Kim Kliegel at kakliegel1@ccis.edu or 573-875-7433 to reserve your spot.