Fayette, Mo. - The 18th-ranked Cougars of Columbia College were well tested today on the road as they took on (RV) Bethel College and Texas A&M Texarkana in back-to-back matches. 

Columbia will have a short turn-around as they travel to Fayette again tomorrow for a morning matchup against #19 Central Methodist University at 9:00AM. 

In the first match against the Bethel Threshers, the Cougars took the first set with a match-high .441 hitting percentage, but struggled in set two and would hit .159% as Bethel tied the match at 1-1. 

Columbia got back on track by winning the third set and seemingly was on their way to an easy fourth set win. However, the Threshers tied the set up late at 23-23, forcing Columbia to take a timeout. From there, kills from Alayna Rooks and Agatha Emanuelle closed out the fourth set win for the Cougars, 26-24. 

Freshman Isabella Kincaid had a dominating performance for the Cougars as she finished with 18 kills (hitting .342%) to go along with 17 digs, both match-highs. 

Alayna Rooks followed with 11 kills of her own, while Mariana De Carvalho and Allana Capella each had seven kills, respectively. 

Hannah Vogt led the Cougar offense with 23 assists to go along with eight digs, and Giovanna Bicalho totaled 21 assists. 

In game two, the Cougars got all they could handle from the Eagles of Texarkana. A back and forth battle that went the distance, the Eagles seemed to have all the momentum heading into the fifth set after ending the fourth set on a five-point scoring run. 

Three quick kills from Columbia found them up early in the fifth set. The Cougars continued their run and forced the first timeout from the Eagles as the lead had now moved to 7-4. 

Up 9-5, the Eagles put together three-points in a row to close the gap to one, 9-8, when Columbia called their first timeout of the set. The Cougars offense powered CC to a late 13-9 lead when the Eagles burned their second timeout of the set. Sude Gundogan sealed the win for the Cougars with back-to-back service aces, 15-9. 

Alayna Rooks led the way in game two with 13 kills, followed by Janae Johnson with 11 and Agatha Emanuelle with 10. 

Clara Gower had a game-high 29 digs, while Isabella Kincaid followed with 10. 

Hannah Vogt had a game-high 28 assists, followed by Giovanna Bicalho with 15 and Alexa Olson with 10.