Columbia, Mo. – Tonight the Columbia College women's volleyball team took the court for their final regular season game against Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University. This game served as senior night for the Cougars and five seniors were honored for their dedication to the program during their time at Columbia College. Additionally, the Cougars also honored head coach Melinda Wrye-Washington for achieving her 700^th win as a head coach when Columbia College defeated Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) University last week.

The 21^st ranked Cougars got off to a slow start in the season but have come alive as of late. They won their previous seven matches in a row and looked to continue that winning streak as they head into postseason play. Columbia College was able to defeat the Trojans in three straight sets (25-19, 25-14, 25-15) to finish the regular season with an overall record of 23-11 while posting a 10-2 record in conference play.

In the first set of the match, the Cougars jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the game. The Lions battled back and challenged Columbia College on every point. The Cougars were finally able to break away from Freed-Hardeman when they went on a 5-2 run in the middle of the set and defeated the Lions by a score of 25-19 to take a one game lead in the match. Columbia College was led by Maria Franco who had seven kills on seven attacks for a perfect 1.000 attacking percentage.

The second set started very similar to the first with the Cougars jumping out to an early lead in the game and the Lions battling back. Columbia College came alive as the set progressed and went on 7-1 run in the game to cruise to a 25-14 victory. The Cougars used their momentum from the second set and dominated the lions in the third game. The game started with both teams exchanging points early. With the score tied at four, the Cougars went on a 4-0 run to jump out in front of the Lions. Columbia College never let Freed-Hardeman back into the game and took the final set by a score of 25-15 to complete the three game sweep.

The Cougars were led offensively in the game by the NAIA and AMC Attacker of the Week, Peiyi Liu, who had a match high 13 kills. Caroline Clifford had a great game on both sides of the ball as she tallied 12 kills and had a match high 12 digs in the contest. Sami Meyer had another fantastic defensive performance as she was able to add to her streak of games with double digit digs picking up 11 in tonight's match. Sashiko Heredia did a great job running the offense tonight as she recorded a match high 41 assists.

The Cougars will be back in action on Tuesday, November 8^th when they host an AMC quarterfinal match against an opponent to be named later. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Southwell Athletic Complex.