Columbia, Mo. -  The No. 20-ranked Columbia College volleyball team competed in the first day of the CC Hampton Inn Classic winning against Grand View University (0-2) and dropping to Eastern Oregon University (5-1)
 
Columbia (1-5) vs. Grand View University (0-2)
 
Set 1: Columbia 25 - Grand View 20
Opening up the first set, the Cougars fell behind early as the Vikings took a 10-4 advantage. Back-to-back kills by Gwendolyn Marino and Alanya Rooks put Columbia back in the set. 
The two teams traded points until Columbia went on an 8-0 run to take a 15-14 advantage midway through set one. Columbia then saw themselves using a 6-0 run to pull away late. Grand View got two late points against the Cougars but it wasn't enough. Columbia wrapped up the first set on two mistakes by the Vikings to win 25-20.
 
Set 2: Columbia 25 - Grand View 18
Using the momentum from the first set, Columbia jumped out to a 4-0 set lead. The Cougars held a four point advantage until the Vikings went on a small run of their own. Columbia answered the run with their own 5-0 spurt before taking a nine point lead. Grand View wouldn't go away easy as they scored four straight points and seven of the next nine to bring the gap down to five. The momentum never wavered from the Cougars as they finished off the set winning 25-18.
 
Set 3: Columbia 25 - Grand View 15
Scoring nine of the first 12 points, Columbia took control of the set 9-3. From there they never looked back as the gap never got closer than five points. Rooks collected three straight kills for the Cougars to push the advantage to eight. Following a block by Marino and Luisa Ferreira, Columbia led by 10 and was able to push the lead to 11. The Cougars closed out the set and the match on a three point run to win 25-15. 
 
Leading the way in kills for the Cougars were Beyza Bektasoglu and Alayna Rooks with 11 each. Allana Capella had seven in the Cougars' first victory of 2022. Luisa Ferreira collected 30 assists, eight digs and tied the team lead with 2.0 blocks alongside Capella and Danielle Prior. Mary Henry had the team lead in digs with 11 and Camila Espejo collected 10.
 
Columbia (1-5) -  Eastern Oregon (5-1)
 
Set 1: Columbia 27 - Eastern Oregon 25
Eastern Oregon raced out to a quick 5-1 lead, forcing a Columbia timeout. After the timeout, the Cougars tightened things up and tied the set up at 8-8. Neither team held more than a two-point advantage until Eastern Oregon ran off four-straight points to take a 23-20 lead. Columbia came storming back and took the first set 27-25. 
 
Set 2: Columbia 27 - Eastern Oregon 25
The second set saw the teams split the first ten points as an attack error by the Mountaineers tied the match up 5-5. Again, the teams were even as the score was tied 20-20 before Danielle Prior racked up back-to-back kills. Eastern Oregon battled back to take the lead at 25-24, but another kill from Prior tied the match at 25 and sparked a 3-0 run as the Cougars took set number two. 

Set 3: Columbia 17 - Eastern Oregon 25
Eastern Oregon jumped out to a 9-5 lead, before the Cougars went on a 6-1 run to take an 11-10 advantage. That was the only lead of the set for the Cougars. The Mountaineers used a 7-2 run to extend their lead to 20-15 and take full control of the set. 
 
Set 4: Columbia 25 - Eastern Oregon 17
A pair of kills by Eastern Oregon gave them a 9-4 advantage in the fourth set. The Cougars climbed back to within three points (11-8) on an attack error by the Mountaineers. Columbia remained within striking distance until a 5-0 spurt by Eastern Oregon pushed their advantage to 18-10. Eastern Oregon cruised to the set win and tied the match at 2-2. 
 
Set 5: Columbia 12 - Eastern Oregon 15
The decisive fifth set saw the Cougars race out to a 5-2 lead, but Eastern Oregon answered right back scoring the next four points to lead 6-5. After the teams went back and forth, Madison Morgan had back-to-back kills for Eastern Oregon to clinch the match.  
 
Allana Capella led the Cougars with 12 kills on 31 attacks. Luisa Ferreira dished out a team best 29 assists, while Camila Espejo led with 27 digs and Danielle Prior had a team high five blocks.