Columbia, Mo. – [BOX SCORE] The No. 3 Missouri Baptist women's volleyball team defeated rival No. 10 Columbia College (Mo.) in a 3-2 battle in the American Midwest Conference Game of the Week on Wednesday evening with a rowdy crowd cheering after every point.

The Spartans (20-1, 8-0) started the match with a few jitters, but quickly warmed-up and capitalized off of a few hitting errors from the Cougars to take their first lead of the game.  The Missouri Baptist team lead was advanced as Taylor Cook stepped up to the service line. The team kept Cook at the service line for eight serves notching one ace in the sequence.

MBU continued to hold the lead and took set one 25-19. Missouri Baptist held Columbia to a 0.172 hitting percentage and posted a 0.321 hitting percentage of their own.

The roles flip flopped in set two as the Cougars now held MBU to a 0.140 hitting percentage and posted a 0.333 percentage of their own. Columbia led the entirety of the set and tied the set score at one apiece.

The teams were neck and neck through the following game with 20 ties in the third set alone. MBU, however, couldn't hold the advantage long enough to notch the set three win.

The Cougars were up by one set but the Spartans came back to take set four. The teams recorded only a 0.02 difference in hitting percentage in the set. The Spartans were effective with their 17 kills and tied things up at two sets.

With the deciding set on the table, the Spartans opened up the set with an overpass kill from Cook. The teams fought tooth and nail to come out on top. The momentum swung from one side to the other as the Cougars found their way to match point, but the Spartans weren't done yet. Missouri Baptist came from behind to take the AMC Game of the Week three sets to two.

The team was supported by a large following of fans consisting of parents, friends and Spartan Wall.

Mallory Dillon led MBU with 24 kills and six digs. Kristina Medanovic had an impressive game with a new career-high of 18 kills off of 30 swings for an outstanding attack percentage of 0.467. The middle also notched two digs, two solo black and one block assist.

Hannah Carey and Taylor Cook also had a big performance on the night with 12 and 10 kills respectively.

Ally Krus led the offense to notch a new season-high of 63 total assists for an average of 12.6 assists per set. Haley Pouliezos fed Krus with 15 total digs on the night and only two receive errors.

This match marked the third win in a row that MBU has defeated Columbia and the first time since 2011 that MBU has defeated the Cougars in the Southwell Complex.

The Spartans will have a day to recoup before they hit the court again for the Spartan Invitational on Oct. 9-10 where the team will face Harris Stowe State University (Mo.), York College (Neb.), Faulkner University (Ala.) and Colombia College.