Sioux City, Iowa – The Columbia College volleyball team swept American Midwest Conference (AMC) foe Missouri Baptist University 3-0 (28-26, 25-16, and 25-21) this evening at the Tyson Event Center to claim their fourth NAIA National Championship Title in school history. Columbia's most recent banner came in 2001. The Cougars, who end the season on a 13 match winning streak, finish the season with a 33-7 record. The Spartans finish the season with a record of 39-5.

Tonight's matchup was the fourth meeting this season between the teams with Columbia holding a 2-1 advantage entering tonight. 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.

The Spartans advanced to the National Championship match for the first time in school history after defeating Viterbo University this morning 3-0 in the semifinal round.

The Cougars posted their highest hitting percentage of the match at 0.410 in the first game of the night. Columbia jumped out to a 7-3 lead over the Spartans, but MBU battled back and eventually tied the game at nine with back-to-back kills by Kristina Medanovic and Mallory Dillon. The game remained close from there and with MBU down 22-21, the Spartans gained their first lead of the set, scoring three straight points on two kills and a Cougar error. Columbia worked their way back, fighting off the set point to knot the score at 24. The teams traded points from there and with the Cougars trailing by one, Penny Liu put down a kill followed by two Spartan errors to put the game away, winning 28-26.

Columbia carried their momentum into the second set and rushed out to a 5-2 lead. A 4-0 run by the Spartans put MBU ahead 6-5 and from there the teams battled for every point. A 5-0 run by the Cougars midway through put Columbia up 13-10 and they would hold their lead through the set on their way to a 25-16 win.

The third and last set of the night was tightly contested, as the score would be tied 10 different times. Neither team was able to gain much separation, but with the score knotted at 21, a kill by Liu and three Spartan attack errors allowed the Cougars to pull away with the third set and match win.

"We worked all year to overcome a lot of things," said Columbia head coach Melinda Wrye-Washington. "We went through a lot of peaks and valleys, a lot of roller coaster rides, through injuries and sickness to make it here tonight. This group persisted, they never gave up on each other. Their character in practice and the ability to invest in everything they did, physically, mentally and emotionally and invest in their training and have the character to persist through everything that happened to them over the season has just been amazing."

Liu led the Cougars, hitting 0.308 in the match, with 12 kills on the night. Amber Graham followed closely behind with 10 kills of her own. Sashiko Heredia continued to feed the offense and finished with 34 total assists in the match for an average of 11.3 assists per set. Mikah Simpson had an exceptional night on the back line and had 16 total digs in the match while Heredia and Sasha Robinson chipped in with 11 digs apiece.

Columbia held the Spartans to 0.156 hitting for the game. Hannah Carey led all players with 18 kills while Medanovic and Dillon finished with 11 and nine, respectively. Setter, Ally Krus dished out a match high 40 digs and Haley Pouliezos had 19 digs.
The Cougars were the most experienced team at the tournament as this was their 22^nd appearance and have now won four national titles while finishing second five times and claiming third three times. The Cougars now hold an 86-43 all-time record at nationals after going a perfect 6-0 this year at the tournament.

Following the match, members of the 2015 NAIA Volleyball National Championship All-Tournament Team were announced.  Polina Severina and Sashiko Heredia were honored and Penny Liu was named the Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball National Championship Most Valuable Player.  In addition, head coach Melinda Wrye-Washington was crowned the Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball National Championship Coach of the Year.