ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] The Missouri Baptist women's volleyball team defeated Williams Baptist (Ark.) 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 26-24) in the American Midwest Conference (AMC) Semifinal match on Friday to advance to the AMC Championship match.
The Spartans (34-3, 12-0) struck first blood in the first semifinal match of the night off the hand off Kristina Medanovic. The teams battled to maintain the lead with 10 tying scores in the set. After a tie score of 12, MBU went on an 8-2 run that put the team just five points away from taking the set. The Eagles (21-13, 8-4) fought to stay in the match and notched four more points before Missouri Baptist closed the set for a 25-18 set 1 win.
MBU held WBC to its lowest hitting percentage of the match (0.040) in set one, while the Spartans recorded their highest hitting percentage of the match (0.324).
The second set saw Williams Baptist jump to an early lead. The score remained tight until Ally Krusstepped up to the service line. Krus remained at the service line with the help of her team for seven consecutive serves to advance the Missouri Baptist lead to eight points.
The Eagles did not give in, as later in the set WBC went on 9-2 run and closed the deficit to two. Although Williams Baptist closed the scoring gap, only two points remained for the Spartans to close out the second set and with a kill from Medanovic and Krus MBU held a 2-0 set advantage over Williams Baptist.
The Eagles boasted their highest hitting percentage in the second set of 0.321 despite the set loss. Williams Baptist also notched 11 total kills in the set, the teams highest total in the match compared to the Spartans 16.
Missouri Baptist took the first lead of the third set but the Eagles jumped into action and took the lead. WBC held that lead for a majority of the set and fought to stay alive. MBU, however, steadily closed the scoring gap and came from behind to take set three, 26-24 with a final kill from Taylor Cook.
The close set yielded only a 0.013 difference in hitting percentage between the two teams. The Spartans closed the set with 20 kills compared to the Eagles 10.
Hannah Carey led all hitters with 17 kills on the night and an impressive hitting percentage of 0.414. Mallory Dillon followed Carey with 16 kills of her own.
Krus fed the Spartan offense with 42 total assists and averaged and outstanding 14 assists per set.
The Spartans libero Haley Pouliezos and Eagles defensive specialist Jessica Baugh both had impressive performances of 13 total digs on the night. Both defensive players notched an average of 4.3 digs per set.
Williams Baptist will close out its season after the loss with a record of 21-13 overall and 8-4 in the AMC.
Missouri Baptist will continue their season to the AMC Championship match. The Spartans will face the winner of the second semifinal played by Columbia College (Mo.) and Park University (Mo.) on Nov. 14 in Parkville, Mo. First serve is set for 1 p.m.
