Box Score Parkville, Mo. – The 5^th-ranked Cougar Volleyball team advanced to the American Midwest Conference (AMC) Championship game Friday night, defeating No. 3 seed and 7^th-ranked Park University 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-22) in the semifinal round of the Tournament. Columbia, the No. 2 seed, improves to 26-7 with the victory.

Columbia got off to a strong start in set one as the squad took an early 5-1 lead over the Pirates and pushed their advantage to 17-10 after back-to-back aces by Sasha Robinson. The Cougars continued to control the set as they stretched their lead to ten at 22-12 and put the game away with the help of three blocks. The Cougars totally dominated the set as they hit 0.591 while holding the Pirates to a 0.080 hitting percentage and tallied four services aces.

The Cougars took the first point in set two, but the Pirates would use a small run to gain their first lead of the match as they went ahead 4-3. However, a service ace by Penny Liu and an error by the Pirates allowed the Cougars regain their lead at 5-4. The game remained close from there as the score would be tied 13 different times throughout the set. With the score tied at 17, Columbia scored four of the next five points to gain a little bit of separation 21-18. However, the Pirates took advantage of a couple of Cougar errors to tie the game back at 21. After trading point for point, an ace by Robinson and a kill by Liu allowed Columbia to put the game away for a 2-0 advantage in the match.

With the match on the line, the Pirates gained momentum in the third set as they rushed out to an 8-3 lead over the Cougars. Park continued to control the game and led 12-6 midway, but a 4-1 run allowed the Cougars to cut the deficit to three at 13-10. The two teams traded points from there, but Columbia battled back to pull within one at 15-14 and eventually took their first lead at 17-15. Park didn't back down from there as they tied the game two different times and regained their lead at 19-18. Four straight points by the Cougars put the squad up 22-19 and eventually pulled away with 25-23 third set win to take the match.

Columbia finished the match with 40 total kills and a hitting percentage of 0.277 compared to 0.108 for Park. AMC Player and Newcomer of the Year, Penny Liu led the balanced attack with 10 kills to lead all players while Amber Graham and Eirini Chatziefstratiadou finished with eight apiece. Sashiko Heredia dished out a game high 28 assists while libero Mikah Simpson tallied 15 digs. Robinson posted four of Columbia's seven service aces on the night.

Columbia will take on regular season champion and top-ranked Missouri Baptist University tomorrow, November 14^th in the AMC championship game. The Cougars fell to the Spartans 3-2 back on October 7^th before defeating the team 3-1 at the Spartan Invitational three days later. Match time is set for 1:00 p.m. at Breckon Sports Center.