Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College women's volleyball team was back in action tonight when they played host to the 10th ranked Missouri Baptist University Spartans in the AMC Game of the Week. The Cougars, who came into this game with a six game winning streak, were able to continue their hot streak as they defeated the Spartans in four sets (25-17, 18-25, 25-16, 25-22) to improve to 19-3 on the season and 5-1 in conference play.
Prior to the match, the NAIA national office announced the third Coaches Top 25 Poll for the 2017 regular season. After going 6-1 since the last poll was released, the Cougars dropped five six spots to 13th in the latest rankings.
In the first set of the match, both sides came out and exchanged points to start the game. With the score tied at five, the Cougars were able to go on a 5-1 run and held a 10-6 lead early in the set. Columbia College continued to play well as the set progressed and held a 19-13 lead late in the game. The Spartans did their best to get back into the set but were unable to cut into the Cougars lead and Columbia took a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-17 victory.
After dropping the second set 25-18, the Cougars found themselves tied with the Spartans at one set apiece. They came out in the third game and were able to take an early 6-3 lead over Missouri Baptist. The Cougars continued to play well down the stretch of the set and took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-16 victory.
In the fourth set of the match, neither side was able to break away from the other to start the game. With the score tied at 10 midway through the set, the Cougars were able to use a 6-2 run to take a 16-12 lead in the game. The Spartans made a run back at Columbia College and were able to cut the lead to two late in the set but that was as close as they would get as the Cougars were able to clinch the four game upset with a 25-22 win.
Pamela Jaime led the way for Columbia as she finished with a match high 15 kills in the contest. In addition, Zori Curry added 12 kills, Yamilet Velazquez finished with a match high 42 assists, and Gabriela Walton tallied a match high 13 digs to round out the top performers for the Cougars.
Columbia College is back in action on Thursday, October 5th when they travel to St. Louis, Missouri, to take on Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) University in an AMC match. The game is set to start at 7 p.m.
