Columbia, Mo. – The ninth ranked Columbia College volleyball team was back on the court today as they wrapped up play in the 2019 Columbia College Fall Classic where they competed against the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes and the William Woods (Mo.) University Owls. The Cougars defeated the Coyotes 3-0 (25-19, 25-12, 25-14) and the Owls 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-23) to improve to 23-2 on the season.

The Cougars had a rough start in the first set when the Coyotes went on a 5-1 run, but quickly found themselves back in the game after strategically placing their serves to tally five service aces. In set two, Columbia was down until they tied the game at five followed by excellent distribution from Luisa Ferreira to keep the Cougar offense moving which made Columbia go on a 20-5 run to take set two. The Cougars took control of set three from the start with a 10-3 run while adding 14 kills for a 0.364 hitting percentage to sweep the match.
 
Columbia was led by Sidney Branson who had a total of 10 kills and 13 digs. In Addition, Adianez Rivera added 10 kills while Kiersten Anderson led the way in aces with four, Ferreira dished out 34 assists, and Ellie Rockers picked up 13 digs.
 
In match two of the day, the Cougars and the Owls kept it close in set one until Rockers had back-to-back aces followed by another ace from Anderson which fueled Columbia into a 9-4 run to claim the first set. The Cougars ran the show in the second set with 16 kills for a 0.212 hitting percentage while maintaining the Owls just below five kills. William Woods was on their toes in the third set as they slowly clawed their way back into the game to take their second lead of the set making it a 23-22 game. Back-to-back kills from Branson and Anderson forced the Owls to call a timeout right before Branson closed out the game with one final kill to solidify the win.
 
Anderson and Rivera broke into double digits with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Ferreira had 38 assists, and Rockers tallied nine digs.
 
Following the last match, the 2019 Columbia College Fall Classic All-Classic team was named. Columbia's Kiersten Anderson again took home Most Valuable Player accolades after collecting the honor back in August at the Hampton Inn Classic. Cougar freshman setter Luisa Ferreira was also named to the All-Classic team.  For a complete list, click here.
 
The Cougars will be back on the court on Thursday, October 24 when they travel to St. Louis, Missouri to go up against top ranked Missouri Baptist in an AMC matchup. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m.