Columbia, Mo. – Tonight the 25^th ranked Columbia College women's volleyball team took on Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) University in an AMC matchup. The Cougars were able to sweep the Trojans in three straight sets (25-15, 25-11, 25-11) and improved to 17-1 on the season. It was a special night for Melinda Wrye-Washington, the Columbia College head volleyball coach, as she was able to pick up her 700^th win and 630^th as the Cougars head coach. Since coming to Columbia College in 2000, Wrye-Washington has earned ten American Midwest Conference Coach of the Year awards, five Region Five Coach of the Year awards, and three NAIA National Coach of the Year awards while coaching 47 All-Americans and 3 National Player of the Year recipients.

In the first set of the match, the Trojans were able to hang with the Cougars as both sides exchanged points to start the match. The Cougars were finally able to break away from the Trojans when they went on a 7-1 run with the score tied at six. Columbia College never looked back in the game as they were able to take the first set by a final score of 25-15. The Cougars were led by Caroline Clifford who had four kills on five attacks in the set.  

The Cougars were able to use their momentum from the first set and cruised to a 25-11 victory in the second set. They got off to a slow start and found themselves down early to the Trojans but were able to go on a 10-1 run in the middle of the set to break away from Hannibal-LaGrange and take a two game lead into the final set. The Cougars had 14 kills on 21 attacks in the game. The Trojans looked to bounce back in the third set and jumped out to an early 4-1 lead. With the Cougars leading 9-8 in the game, they went on an 8-1 run in the middle of the set and completed the three game sweep over the Trojans with a 25-11 victory.

The Cougars were once again led offensively by Peiyi Liu and Sashiko Heredia. Liu was able to pick up a match high 12 kills in the contest and Heredia had a match high 38 assists as the offense was rolling tonight picking up 45 kills on a .559 attacking percentage. Sami Meyer led Columbia College defensively as she was able to tally a match high 11 digs in the game.

Columbia College is back in action on Friday, October 28^th when they travel to Georgetown, Kentucky, to compete in the 2016 Backyard Brawl at Georgetown College. The Cougars will play a double header on Friday taking on ninth ranked Lourdes (Ohio) University at 1 p.m. followed by eighth ranked Georgetown (Ky.) College at 7 p.m.