Fulton, Mo. – Tonight the 2^nd ranked Columbia College volleyball team was in action when they traveled to Fulton, Missouri to take on the Westminster (Mo.) College Blue Jays. The Cougars were able to sweep the Blue Jays in three straight sets (25-15, 25-16, 25-14) to kick off their 2019 campaign.

Columbia College and Westminster College started the first set evenly matched as they were tied 5-5. The Cougars then got on a quick three-point run to force a Blue Jays timeout. Columbia kept pushing as the team began to find their rhythm and took the 19-11 lead. Kiersten Anderson and Aaliyah Durant led the way offensively to take the first set 25-15.

In the second set, the Cougars got off to a quick start as they jumped out to an early 5-0 lead but really found their momentum to push ahead 17-9 before eventually taking the second set 25-16.

In set three, the Cougars had a hard time keeping the ball in play which gave the Blue Jays the 5-3 lead early on. Columbia used a 4-0 run to take the lead back and force Westminster to call a timeout. As the game progressed, the Cougars stayed aggressive to increase their lead by seven to take a 21-14 advantage. Columbia was able to hold Westminster there as Jaqueline Silva, Sidney Branson, and Luisa Ferreira had a kill each as well as a block from Branson to complete the three game sweep.

Branson led the way for Columbia College as she finished with a match high nine kills. In addition to Branson, Luisa Ferreira finished with a match high 29 assists and Shelby Meyer had a match high 11 digs to round out the top performers for the Cougars.

The volleyball team is back in action on Friday, August 30^th when they host the 2019 Hampton Inn Classic. The Cougars will play two matches on the day including a 3 p.m. start against the MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) University Pioneers and a 7 p.m. start against the Hastings (Neb.) College Broncos in Southwell Complex.