Parkville, Mo. – The fourth ranked Columbia College volleyball team took the court today for the AMC Tournament Championship match where they were set to battle the number one ranked Park University Pirates. The Cougars upset the Pirates in a five set (22-25, 14-25, 25-22, 25-13, 15-9) to improve to 37-3 on the season and claim the AMC Tournament Title.  The loss is Park's first of the season.

Despite hitting .313, the Cougars dropped game one 25-22 after Kiersten Anderson did the majority of the damage for Columbia with seven of their 13 kills. Anderson took over setter duties to start game two and after falling behind early the Cougars battled back to tie the game at 6. However, momentum favored the home team, as they would go on to win the second game in commanding fashion, 25-14.

The Cougars came out to start game three with something to prove, and they did just that. They fought for every point and were able to push the top-ranked Pirates to their first loss of the season.

Anderson finished with 18 kills while Caroline Clifford chipped in 12. Conference Setter of the Year Manuela Vargas dished out a team high 45 assists and Thais Andrade posted 15 digs. Ariadne Borges was a force at the net with eight of the Cougars' 27 blocks.

With the win, the Cougars claimed the second AMC automatic bid to the National Championships. They will now await the selection show, which takes place on Monday, November 12^th at 10 a.m. to see who they will match up against in the 39^th Annual Volleyball National Championship that takes place November 27^th-December 1^st in Sioux City, Iowa.