Columbia, Mo. - The 25th-ranked Cougars of Columbia College opened American Midwest Conference Play with a four set win over the Owls of William Woods University tonight. 

The win puts Columbia at 8-8 overall and 1-0 in AMC play, while the Owls sit at 10-8 overall and 0-1 in the AMC. 

Columbia plays again on Thursday, September 26th, as they travel to take on the Comets of Cottey College in their next AMC contest. 

After taking the first set, the Cougars were unable to keep up with the Owls' offensive pressure in the second set as WWU hit .324% to level the match 1-1. 

In the third set, Columbia played out to a 20-11 lead after multiple errors from WWU. The lead was short-lived as the Owls used a seven-point scoring run to cut the deficit to just two, 20-18. Agatha Emanuelle scored three kills with one each from Katerina Pappa and Samira Baltazar to push Columbia to the third set win, 25-21. 

Columbia had all the momentum in the fourth set as they totaled 11 kills with zero errors, hitting .524% to take the fourth and final set, 25-12. 

Katerina Pappa had a career-setting night as she led the Cougars with 16 kills and five blocks. 

Mariana De Carvalho followed with 10 kills and eight digs. 

Agatha Emanuelle totaled eight kills with three blocks. 

Hannah Vogt finished with 23 assists, while Alexa Olson followed with 13. 

Defensively, Clara Gower had a match-high 22 digs, followed by Allana Capella with nine.