Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College women's volleyball team was back in action when they took on top seeded Westmont (Calif.) College in their second pool play match of the 2016 NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championships. The Cougars picked up right where they left off yesterday afternoon and were able to hand the undefeated Warriors their first loss of the season in a thrilling five set (27-25, 25-21, 21-25, 17-25, 15-9) victory and improved to 2-0 in Pool A.

In the first set of the match, the Cougars came out a little sluggish as attacking errors plagued them early. Westmont was able to take advantage of the errors and took an early 6-3 lead to start the game. However, the Cougars battled back and were able to match the Warriors point for point as the set progressed. With the score tied at 25, Columbia College picked up a huge combined block from Eirini Chatziefstratiadou and Caroline Clifford and followed that up with a kill from Chatziefstratiadou to edge out a 27-25 victory over Westmont in the first game. This was the first set that Westmont had lost in their past eight matches dating back to October when they defeated William Jessup (Calif.) University 3-1.

The Cougars picked up right where they left off in the second set and quickly jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. They played great defensively in the game and were able to use a 6-2 run in the middle of the set to break away from the Warriors. Westmont looked as if they would make a run late but Columbia College was able to hold them off and claim a 25-21 victory while taking a 2-0 lead in the match.

Westmont came alive in the third set and started the game on an 8-1 run. Columbia College battled back and reduced the gap but were never quite able to catch back up to the Warriors as Westmont took the set 25-21.  They were able to carry that momentum into the fourth game and dominated the Cougars from the opening serve. Columbia College had trouble getting their attack going as the Warriors were able to hold them to a 0.075 attacking percentage and tie the match a two sets a piece with a 25-17 victory.

The Cougars came out in the final set and looked determine to do what no other team has been able to do this season, beat Westmont. They came out and claimed five of the first six points thanks to several attacking errors by the Warriors and claimed an 8-6 lead before switching ends of the court with their opponent. Both teams exchanged the next two points but the Cougars ended the set on a 6-2 run to hand Westmont their first loss of the season.

Columbia College had several key contributors in the win but none were bigger than Peiyi Liu, the reigning National Player of the Year, who had a match high 16 kills and added 16 digs. Additionally on offense, the Cougars had four players finish with double figure kills including Maria Franco and Eirini Chatziefstratiadou who each had 11 kills while Caroline Clifford and Zori Curry each added 10. Sashiko Heredia had another fantastic game leading the offense as she racked up a match high 52 assists in the contest. Despite the impressive offensive numbers, it was their strong defensive play that helped them to their second straight pool play victory. In addition to Liu who had 16 digs, four other players finished with double figure digs including Sami Meyer who had a match high 17 digs, Caroline Clifford who had 16 digs, and Sashiko Heredia and Gabriela Walton who each added 11 digs to the 79 accumulated by the Cougars.

Columbia College is back in action tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. when they take on IU Kokomo (Ind.) in their final pool play match. IU Kokomo (Ind.) comes into this game with an overall record of 27-8 and hold the 32^nd seed in the tournament.