Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Georgetown, Ky. – Today the 25^th ranked Columbia College volleyball team traveled to Georgetown, Kentucky, to compete in the 2016 Boneyard Brawl at Georgetown College. The Cougars played a double header in the tournament taking on ninth ranked Lourdes (Ohio) University followed by eighth ranked Georgetown (Ky.) College. Columbia College was able to win both matches in the tournament and improved to 19-11 on the season.

The Cougars picked up a huge win their first match as they were able to beat the ninth ranked Grey Wolves in a thrilling five set match. This was a revenge match for Columbia College as they were defeated in three straight sets to Lourdes University back in September. The Cougars got off to a fast start in the first game of the match and cruised to a 25-13 victory. Columbia College had 14 kills in the set while posting a .375 attacking percentage.

The Grey Wolves battled back in the second set and tied the match at one game a piece with a 25-19 victory over the Cougars. Columbia College could not get anything going offensively in the game as they were held to just 10 kills on 39 attacks. In the third set of the match, the Cougars returned to form and played great defense in the 25-23 victory. They were able to hold the Grey Wolves to a .135 attacking percentage while picking up 16 kills themselves.

The fourth set was another very close game with Lourdes taking the set and tying the match at two. The Grey Wolves struggled offensively in the set but attacking errors plagued the Cougars and they were defeated 25-23.  Columbia College was able to bounce back in the decisive fifth game and edged out a 15-11 victory in the set where they held Lourdes to just a .050 attacking percentage. With the win, the Cougars improved to 18-11 on the season.

Columbia College had a great game offensively in the match picking a total of 65 kills in the contest. The Cougars had four players with double digit kills including Peiyi Liu who had a match high 20 kills. Caroline Clifford had 11 kills, Eirini Chatziefstratiadou picked up 15 kills, and Johanna Mueller added 12 kills to go along with a match high 53 assists from Sashiko Heredia to lead the Cougars offensively. Columbia College also had a great game defensively with four players having double digit digs. Peiyi Liu had a match high 22 digs, Sami Meyer added 19 digs, Sashiko Heredia had 17 digs, and Johanna Mueller picked up 14 digs for the Cougars as they had 84 total in the match.

In their second match of the day, the Cougars were able to defeat Georgetown College in another close five set contest. Columbia College found themselves down early in the match after dropping a close first set to the Tigers. Georgetown defeated the Cougars by a score of 25-23 after picking a decisive game point kill from Jenny Howell to take the game. The second set was a lot like the first with both sides battling hard to get an edge. With the score tied at 23, Caroline Clifford picked up a huge kill for the Cougars and Columbia was able to take the set 25-23.

Columbia College used their momentum from the second set and cruised to a 25-17 third set victory to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Cougars played great defense in the game limiting the Tigers to a .050 attacking percentage. Georgetown College battled back in the fourth set and used a 5-1 run late in the game to tie the match up at two sets a piece with a 25-20 victory.

The Cougars came out in the decisive fifth set and jumped out to an early 4-2 lead behind two quick kills from Caroline Clifford. The Tigers battled back but were never quite able to catch up with Cougars as they were able to use a 4-0 run at the end of the game and took the set 15-9. Columbia College played great defense in the final set and limited Georgetown to just four kills.

The Cougars were once again led by the reigning NAIA Player of the Year, Peiyi Liu, as she had a match high 27 kills and tacked on 12 digs in the contest. Caroline Clifford and Eirini Chatziefstratiadou also had big games offensively as Clifford had 11 kills and Chatziefstratiadou added 12 for Columbia College. Sashiko Heredia did a great job distributing the ball on offense as she was able picked up a match high 57 assists. The Cougars played great defense in the game with four players accumulating double digit digs including Sami Meyer who had a match high 22 digs.

The volleyball team is back in action tomorrow when they take on Campbellsville (Ky.) University and Taylor (Ind.) University on the second day of the Backyard Brawl. They will play Campbellsville at 10 a.m. followed by Taylor at 1 p.m.