Sioux City, Iowa – The 4^th-ranked Cougar Volleyball team swept 24^th-ranked Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Ohio) 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-18) on Tuesday afternoon in their first pool play match of the 2015 NAIA Volleyball National Championship. Columbia, the American Midwest Conference (AMC) tournament champions, improves to 28-7 overall on the year with the victory and has now won eight straight matches dating back to October 24^th. MVNU had their 11 match winning streak broken with the loss and falls to 35-2 on the season.

Columbia is the most decorated team among the field with 22 appearances, 82 wins and three national banners. The Cougars, whose most recent banner came in 2001, failed to advance out of pool play last season after losing all three pool play matches for the first time in program history.

The Cougars jumped out to an 8-2 lead with the help of five kills by American Midwest Conference (AMC) Player of the Year Penny Liu and would hold a 14-9 advantage midway through the game. MVNU battled back to pull within four at 19-15, but a 6-2 run capped off by a service ace by Sasha Robinson would allow the Cougars to win set one, 25-17.

Columbia carried their momentum into the second set as they took an early 11-4 lead over Mount Vernon. MVNU responded, scoring four of the next five points to cut the deficit to four, but Columbia extended their lead back out with a 4-0 run. MVNU would come within four at 16-12 one more time with the help of a Cougar error and a kill by Annelise Rohrer, but seven straight points by Columbia allowed the squad to put the game away at 25-14, to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Cougars hit a match high 0.531 while limiting MVNU to a 0.156 clip in the set.

For the first time of the day, MVNU led as they took the first two points in set three. Both teams battled back and forth from there as the score would be tied four different times. With the game knotted at seven, the Cougars reeled off a 5-0 run to go ahead 12-7 to gain separation. MVNU hung around and pulled within two, making the score 12-10, but a 5-1 run by the Cougars stretched their lead back out for good. MVNU wouldn't be able to overcome the deficit as the Cougars led by as many as eight on their way to the 25-18 third set win. 

The Cougars, who are ranked No. 2 in the nation for highest hitting percentage, ended the day with a 0.419 hitting efficiency for the game and racked up 56 kills, 52 assists, 52 digs, and three service aces. Four Cougars ended with double digit kills including Amber Graham who led the attack with 13. Polina Severina finished with 12 kills while Liu and Eirini Chatziefstratiadou chipped in 11 and 10, respectively. Sashiko Heredia led all players with 45 assists to go along with 12 digs while Mikah Simpson also posted 12 digs and tallied her team leading 46^th service ace of the season.

MVNU hit 0.179 for the game and were led by Kristen Osborn with 12 kills and Rohrer with nine. Emily Rahe led the team with 13 assists while Rohrer and Beatty Marlowe had eight digs apiece.

The Cougars will resume pool play tomorrow afternoon with a matchup against 17^th-ranked Lourdes University who are undefeated with a 32-0 record. Lourdes swept Trinity Christian College (Ill.) 3-0 in the opening round, registering their first NAIA Championship match victory in program history, to advance to the national tournament. This is the Gray Wolves second time earning a spot in the national championship. Tomorrow's meeting will be the first between the two schools. Match time is scheduled for 1:00 pm at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux Center, Iowa.