COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 17 Missouri Baptist allowed No. 22 Columbia College a team attack percentage of .450 on Tuesday evening and was unable to keep the potent Cougar offense off the board in a 3-0 road loss.

Missouri Baptist (20-2, 7-1 AMC) looked to do what it had not done since 2002 on Tuesday evening, beat Columbia College in the regular season. As the first set got underway, it was clear that the Spartans were in for another big challenge. MBU, down 3-1 early, put together a strategic game that put the team from St. Louis in the lead.

The Spartans posted a three-point lead midway through the set, but Columbia came back. The Cougars tied the set at 19, 22 and 24 before taking a 25-24 lead, causing MBU Head Coach Chris Nichols to call a timeout. After the break, a ball that seemingly fell out of bounds off a Trinity Ojo attack was called in and the home team took the first set 26-24.

The second set started much different from the first. Columbia College came out of the gates roaring to a 12-4 lead. Missouri Baptist looked for chances to get back into the set, but committed costly errors as the opportunistic Cougar offense took full advantage in an 25-14 second set win.

After the intermission, Missouri Baptist looked like a completely different team. The Spartans busted out to a 10-5 lead. The Cougars retaliated quickly, however. Columbia College quickly went on a 5-0 run to tie the match at 10-10 before MBU coach Chris Nichols called his first timeout.

After the break, things began to go back and forth, but Columbia began to pull ahead in the latter stages of the set and finished the match with a 25-23 win.

Kayleigh Cox led Missouri Baptist on the evening. The senior middle blocker posted 10 kills with a .600 attack percentage in the road loss.

The Spartans will get right back to it over the weekend as the team will play host to the second-annual Spartan Invitational. MBU's first match will be at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11