Women's Volleyball | 11/29/2018 6:28:00 PM
Box Score Sioux City, Iowa – The third ranked Columbia College volleyball team was back in action this afternoon when they continued play in Pool C of the 2018 NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championships presented by Delta Hotels. The Cougars, who came into this match with a 1-1 record in pool play, were able to defeat the Warriors in four sets (25-21, 25-23, 15-25, 25-23) to improve to 39-4 on the season.
The Cougars came out in the first set and scored the first two points of the match to take an early 2-0 lead in the game. The Warriors responded by going on a 6-2 run to take a 6-4 lead in the set but the Cougars answered quickly and were able to tie the game at seven. Both sides exchanged points over the next few rallies but with the score tied at 10 points apiece, the Warriors were able to score the next three points and held a 13-10 advantage midway through the game. Despite being down, Columbia College battled back and were able to score the next three points to tie the set at 13. The score remained close down the final stretch of the game, but with the score tied at 21 the Cougars were able to score the final four points of the set to take the first game by a final score of 25-21 and took a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set of the match, both sides came out and exchanged points early in the game. With the score tied at six, Columbia College was able to go on a 4-1 run and held a 10-7 lead midway through the set. They continued to play well as the game progressed and were able to push their lead to 16-10, but the Warriors battled back and cut the lead to 23-22 late in the game. However, that was as close as they would get as the Cougars were able to score two of the final three points of the set to solidify a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-23 victory.
Midland came out in the third set and jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the game before the Cougars were able to get on the board. The Warriors continued to play well over the next few serves and pushed their lead to 10-3 early in the game. With Midland leading 12-3 in set, Columbia College battled back to cut the lead back down to seven but that was as close as they would get as the Warriors played tough down the stretch to cut the Cougars lead to 2-1 in the match with a 25-15 victory.
Columbia College came out in the fourth set and jumped out to an early 4-1 lead. The Warriors responded with a 4-1 run of their own and the score was 5-5 early in the game. With the score tied at six, the Cougars were able to score the next three points to take a 9-6 lead in the game before Midland was forced to call a timeout. The Warriors came out of the timeout and were immediately able to tie the game at nine but a 7-2 run from the Cougars gave them a 16-11 lead in the set. Midland did their best to get back into the game and were able to cut the lead to one late in the set but the Cougars were able to pick up the final point of the contest to take the third set by a final score of 25-23 to solidify a tie for second place in Pool C.
Maria Sandoval led the way for Columbia as she finished with a match high 19 kills. In addition to Sandoval, Caroline Clifford finished with 14 kills, Manuela Vargas finished with 41 assists, Thais Andrade added a match high 19 digs, and Kiersten Anderson tallied 17 digs to round out the top performers for the Cougars.
Despite the loss, Midland has solidified the top spot in Pool C and will advance to bracket play of the 2018 NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championships presented by Delta Hotels due to tiebreakers. The Cougars finished in a tie for second place and took on Aquinas (Mich.) College in a one set playoff tonight following the conclusion of the scheduled matches. The Cougars were able to defeat the Saints by a final score of 25-19 and will advance to play Hastings (Neb.) College in an elimination game tomorrow, November 30th at 11:15 a.m.
The NAIA Network – the association's official video-streaming home – will broadcast all 63 matches (including 48 pool-play matches) live at the 2018 NAIA Volleyball National Championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa. The video platform, powered by Stretch Internet, allows users access to live video, statistics and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single-day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while a pool play pass is $24.95 (Nov. 27 – Dec. 1) and a championship package is available at $39.95. You can also buy an All-Championship pass and watch every championship streamed on the NAIA Network in 2018. Buy your All-Championship Pass today.
To find out more information about the 2018 NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship, click here.
