OTTAWA, Kan. - The No. 18 Columbia College volleyball team competed at the Ottawa Invitational, going 1-1 on the day. Columbia took both matches to five sets, defeating No. 25 McPherson College (Kan.) before falling to the University of Saint Mary (Kan.)

Columbia sits at 7-7 on the season.


Game One: #18 Columbia defeated #25 McPherson, 3-2 (18-25, 25-27, 25-23, 25-20, 15-11)
The Cougars rallied back, down two sets to none to take a thrilling five-set match.

Columbia's offense struggled to find a rhythm in the opening set of play, with ten errors of their own.

McPherson collected 13 kills to Columbia's seven in the first set of action.

In set two, the Cougars held a .273 hitting percentage, but the Bulldogs put down 17 kills to take the 27-25 advantage.

Columbia went on to win three-straight sets, finishing with a satisfactory hitting percentage of .375 in the final set.

Mariana De Carvalho led the Cougars with 15 kills, while Sude Gundogan produced the highest hitting percentage of .360 in the match, following 10 kills.

Alexa Olson added 24 assists, while Hannah Vogt dished out 23 of her own.

Clara Gower finished with 25 digs.


Game Two: #18 Columbia fell to Saint Mary, 3-2 (25-13. 25-19. 21-25. 16-25, 11-15)
Columbia rolled through the first set, hitting .433, their best of the day.

The Cougars added 11 kills in set two, taking a 25-19 advantage.

Despite Columbia's early 2-0 edge over Saint Mary, they did not keep up offensively.

In set three, the Cougars hit .194, while the Spires posted a .343 hitting percentage.

Saint Mary continued to perform well offensively taking sets four and five. The Spires produced 60 kills compared to 48 from Columbia.

Agatha Emanuelle added 12 kills, while Katerina Pappa posted 11.

Hannah Vogt led Columbia with 26 assists, as Clara Gower produced a team-high of 16 digs.


Columbia returns to action on the road against Evangel (Mo.) on September 19 at 6:00 p.m.