Grand Island, Neb.  – The No. 1 ranked and defending National Champion Columbia College volleyball team dropped a tough first match of the season today to Grand View (Iowa) College by scores of 29-27, 25-17 and 25-20.  The match was the first of a trio for the Cougars this weekend as part of the Hasting College Tournament.

The Cougars lead early in the first game but struggled to find a rhythm in their first contest of the year. Columbia looked to be out of the first game, trailing 24-19, but rebounded after a timeout and came all the way back to tie the game at 24. The teams traded off points until the Vikings took advantage of a service miscue and pounded down a kill for the victory.

The second and third games went in Grand View's favor as the Cougars dealt with numerous hitting and service errors.  Taylor Wells led the charge for the Vikings with 15 kills in 31 attempts.

Eirini Chatziefstratiadou and Peiyi Liu posted nine and eight kills, respectively. Sashiko Heredia posted 26 assists in the contest and tied for a game high 13 digs with Gabriela Walton.   

Columbia returns to action tomorrow in the Hastings Tournament with matches against No. 19 Biola (Calif.) University at 10:00 a.m. and No. 5 Hastings College at 4:00 p.m. Both matches will have live video and statistics available on the Cougar volleyball schedule page.