Grand Island, Neb. – The Columbia Cougar volleyball team dropped two five-set matches today against ranked opponents in the Hastings College Invitational. 

Columbia took on No. 19 ranked Biola (Calif.) University in their first match of the day. The Cougars fought their way back after dropping the first two sets, pushing the match to the limit but in the end the Eagles took control defeating Columbia by scores of 25-16, 25-20, 16-25, 24-26 and 15-11.

In the closing match of the tournament the Cougars took on fifth ranked and host institution Hastings. The Mustangs took game one 25-17 before Columbia came back to win games two and three by identical scores of 25-23. Hastings held the Cougars to just eight kills in the fourth set to win 25-15 and push the match to a fifth and deciding set. The service and defensive efforts of Gabriela Walton kept the Cougars in it late but two solid blocks from Hastings put the match away, 15-12.

On the day, Peiyi Liu posted 34 kills, 22 digs and 10 blocks and Caroline Clifford chipped in 32 kills. Sashiko Heredia dished out 92 assists over today's 10 games and also had 28 digs with a team high 23 against Hastings. Walton finished with 32 digs on the day.

The Cougars are idle until next weekend when they host the 2016 Hampton Inn Classic in Southwell Complex. Matches on Friday, September 2^nd are scheduled for 1, 3, 5 and 7 p.m. with the Cougars facing the University of St. Francis at 3 p.m. and Lourdes University at 7 p.m. Matches begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, September 3^rd with Columbia taking on Our Lady of the Lake University at 11 a.m. and semifinalist from last year, Viterbo University at 3 p.m.