St. Louis, MO - The Columbia College volleyball team rallied past the Stars of Stephens College tonight in dramatic fashion to advance to the championship game of the American Midwest Conference Tournament. 

The matchup tomorrow marks the fifth consecutive season that Columbia has faced Missouri Baptist in the AMC tournament championship game, with the Cougars winning the most recent contest in five sets. 

With the win tonight, Columbia has earned the second automatic bid from the AMC to the NAIA National Tournament and will compete in the Opening Round on Saturday, November 23rd. 

Three Cougars hit impressive milestones in the win tonight:

• Allana Capella reached 1,000 career kills
• Agatha Emanuelle reached 100 blocks this season
• Hannah Vogt surpassed 500 season assists

Although the Stars recorded two more service aces than the Cougars, Columbia led in every other statistical category.

After going up 2-0, the Cougars struggled in the third set and found themselves trailing the Stars 24-16. At the service line, Jordan Starkey served the Cougars to a 25-24 lead before the Stars were able to stop the run. From there, both teams traded points until an attacking error from Stephens was followed by a kill from Agatha Emanuelle to end the match. 

Statistical Leaders:

• Allana Capella: 14 kills, hitting .480%, four blocks
• Mariana De Carvalho: 10 kills, eight digs
• Sude Gundogan: eight kills, hitting .438%, five blocks
• Agatha Emanuelle: five kills, four blocks
• Hannah Vogt: 22 assists, five digs
• Alexa Olson: 15 assists
• Clara Gower: 13 digs