Box Score St. Louis, Mo. – Tonight the Columbia College volleyball team was in action when they took on the 13^th ranked Missouri Baptist University Spartans in the AMC Championship Semifinal. The 21^st ranked Cougars were able to defeat the Spartans in a thrilling five set contest (22-25, 25-17, 21-25, 25-22, 15-12) to advance to the AMC Championship Final tomorrow night against Park (Mo.) University.

In the first set of the match, the Cougars got off to a slow start finding themselves down 9-3 early. However, as the game progressed Columbia College was finally able to get their attack going and got themselves back in the game using a 9-2 run in the middle of the set to tie the game at 15. The rest of the set was neck and neck but the Spartans were able to edge out a 25-22 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Cougars were led by Eirini Chatziefstratiadou and Peiyi Liu who each had three kills in the set.

Columbia College came out in the second set and took an early lead over the Spartans. They lead throughout most of the game and cruised to a 25-17 victory in the set to tie the match at one game apiece. The third set was another close one with the Spartans jumping out to an early lead and the Cougars playing catchup for most of the set. Missouri Baptist was able to break away from Columbia College late in the set and ended up taking the third game by a final score of 25-21 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth set was very close as neither side could break away from the other. However, with the score tied at 20, the Cougars were able to go on a 4-0 run to polish off the Spartans with a 25-22 victory to tie the match at 2-2. The Cougars were able to carry that momentum over into the fifth set and went point for point with Spartans to open the game. With the score tied at five, Missouri Baptist was able to break away from Columbia College but the Cougars battled back going on a 3-0 run at the end of the game and edging out a 15-12 victory to advance to the AMC Championship Final and solidify a spot in the National Tournament.

Columbia College was once again led by Peiyi Liu who had a match high 22 kills and also added 12 digs. Sashiko Heredia, the AMC Setter of the Year, had another great game leading the offense as she was able to pick up 47 assists and had 15 digs in the contest. Sami Meyer led the team defensively recording a match high 27 digs in the game.

The Cougars will take on sixth ranked Park (Mo.) University tomorrow night in the AMC Championship Final in St. Louis. Columbia College was defeated in their last match against the Pirates in three straight sets and will look to avenge that loss in the championship game. The match is set to begin at 5 p.m. at Missouri Baptist University.