Sioux City, Iowa – The Columbia Cougars proved to be the top team on the court this morning as they swept top ranked Lindsey Wilson College 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, and 25-19) in the semifinals of the 2015 NAIA Volleyball National Championships. The Cougars, who came into the championships as the No. 4 seed, improve to 32-7 on the season and are 5-0 this week as they move into the Championship game. The loss ends the Blue Raiders season at 37-4.

The Cougars entered the national championship as the most experienced team as this is the 22nd appearance for the squad winning three national titles, finishing second five times and claiming third three times. The Cougars hold an 85-43 all-time record at nationals.

The teams kept things close to begin the first set until four straight points by the Cougars allowed the squad to gain a little separation, making the score 18-14. Columbia maintained their advantage from there, with the Blue Raiders pulling within one at 24-23 with the help of a kill and Cougar error, but Columbia held on for the 25-23 first set win as Eirini Chatziefstratiadou put the game away with a kill.

The Cougars used a 10-4 run to begin set two, but the Blue Raiders decided to make things interesting, scoring five of the next seven points cutting the deficit to three. Lindsey Wilson battled their way back from there, and eventually tied the game at 19 before pulling ahead 21-20 on back-to-back kills by Ragni Knudsen and Jamie Jehne. Two attack errors by the Blue Raiders and two kills by Penny Liu allowed the Cougars to quickly regain their lead at 24-21. Lindsey Wilson responded with kills by Jehne and Knudsen to make it a one point game, however, another kill by Liu closed the game allowing the Cougars to pull away with another close 25-23 set win to go up 2-0 in the match.

The third game remained close throughout, but with the score tied at 14, Columbia scored three straight points on back-to-back kills by Chatziefstratiadou and Amber Graham and a service ace by Polina Severina to go ahead 17-14. Lindsey Wilson battle back pulling within two at 20-18, but the Cougars scored five of the last six points to take down top ranked Lindsey Wilson in three straight sets. Liu and Chatziefstratiadou posted two kills apiece during the run.

The Cougars hit 0.248 in the match led by Penny Liu with 20 kills. Mikah Simpson chipped in a match high 19 digs while Sashiko Heredia led all players with 42 assists.

The Blue Raiders fished hitting 0.287 and were led by Knudsen with 15 kills.

Columbia will square off against conference foe Missouri Baptist University this evening at 7:00 p.m.in the national championship game. This is the first trip to the National Championship match for the Spartans who defeated Viterbo University this morning 3-0 in the semifinal round of the tournament to advance. This will be the fourth meeting this season between the teams. The Spartans defeated the Cougars in a thrilling 3-2 match back on October 7^th during the regular conference season. Columbia bounced back and defeated the team 3-1 at the Spartan Invitational on October 10^th and later took down the Spartans in the conference tournament, 3-2 to claim the championship.

Columbia College will be showing the game this evening in Bixby Lecture Hall. Please wear your CC gear!

The championship game will also be available on ESPN3.

Fans can also listen live for free to our very own Tex Little as he does the play by play on the Columbia Cougar portal at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/columbia/.