Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the third ranked Columbia College women's volleyball team was back in action when they played host to the Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University Lions in an AMC matchup. The Cougars, who came into this game on a seven game winning streak, were able to extend their unbeaten streak to eight straight games after sweeping the Lions three straight sets (25-15, 25-16, 25-7). With the win, Columbia College improves to 12-1 on the season and 2-0 in conference play.
In the first set of the match, both sides came out and exchanged points early. With the score tied at six, the Cougars went on a 4-0 run and jumped out to a 10-6 lead before forcing the Lions to call a timeout. Columbia College continued to capitalize on their attacks out of the timeout and extended their lead to 15-7 midway through the game. The Lions battled back and were able to cut the lead to as many as three but that was as close as they would get as the Cougars closed them out down the stretch to take the first set by a final score of 25-15.
The second set started similar to the first as both sides exchanged points to start the game. With the score tied at five, the Lions were able to score the next three points and held an 8-5 lead early in the set. However, their lead did not last long as Columbia answered with a 7-0 run of their own, including five kills from Barbara Sabino, to take a 12-8 lead in the game. The Cougars played well as the set progressed and held a 20-13 lead late in the game before cruising to a 25-16 victory to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Columbia College was able to carry over their momentum from the second set into the third and jumped out to an early 6-1 lead before Freed-Hardeman called a timeout. The Lions came out and scored the next point to cut the lead to 6-2 but another run from the Cougars gave them a 15-4 lead midway through the set. The Lions did their best to get back into the game but the deficit was too large as Columbia was able to pick up the final points of the game to complete their seventh straight sweep with a 25-7 victory.
The Cougars were led by Caroline Clifford who finished with a match high 11 kills. In addition to Clifford, Barbara Sabino finished with 10 kills and Manuela Vargas racked up a match high 35 assists to round out the top performers for Columbia.
The volleyball team is back in action on Tuesday, September 18th when they play host to the Lindenwood University-Belleville (Ill.) Lynx in an AMC matchup. The game is set to start at 7 p.m. in the Southwell Complex.
