COLUMBIA, Mo. - The No. 15-ranked Missouri Baptist women's volleyball team took a set of the third-ranked Columbia College on Monday night, but could not quite put together the upset on the road, losing 1-3.
Missouri Baptist (28-2, 12-2 AMC) began the evening with the first point in the first set and challenged throughout most of the first set. Missouri Baptist went down 2-5 early, but rallied with several key points by outside Maddy Hammack and opposite Hannah Carey to take an early 10-7 lead.
It took a brief deficit for Columbia to hit its stride, building an 18-14 lead led by the big play of Kahoriz Feliz (5 kills, .556 attack percentage) and Brooke Simpson (4 kills, .800 attack percentage). The Spartans never were able to pull out of the hole, dropping the first set 18-25.
Missouri Baptist started the second set well, grabbing a quick 2-0 lead. As Columbia powered-back to a 7-4 lead, MBU showed they had some life left in them. The Spartans tied the set at 10 and then took a big 18-16 lead late in the second set on a kill by CC's Trinity Ojo.
Though Columbia tied the set at 18, MBU finally broke through against its longtime nemesis. The Spartans took the second set on a big kill by Hannah Carey to tie the match at one against the third-ranked Cougars. Carey led the team with six kills in the set.
The Spartans again took an early lead but fell into a deep hole. Columbia built a 15-10 lead thanks in part to the stellar play of Trinity Ojo. As Columbia began to surge, the Spartans had issues with errors. Columbia built as much as an eight-point lead, taking MBU down in the third set 25-16.
Missouri Baptist took to the court in the fourth set, looking for a vast improvement from the third set and looked like a different team early. The team found themselves in a tie game at nine-all before Columbia was able to break out. The Cougars, looking very much like the No. 3-ranked team in the nation, took a 17-15 lead and looked for more, finishing the Spartans off, 25-20.
Carey led Missouri Baptist in the match with 17 kills. On the Columbia side, it was setter Paula Ferreira that set everything into motion. The senior from Sao Paulo recorded 45 assists and 5 kills in the match.
The Spartans will remain on the road on Wednesday as the team heads to Fulton, Mo., to face AMC foe, William Woods in a 7:00 p.m. first serve.
