SPARTANS OPEN CONFERENCE PLAY WITH WIN
ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] The Missouri Baptist women's volleyball team opened up conference play in the American Midwest Conference with a 3-0 (25-10, 25-13, 26-24) win on Wednesday evening against Central Baptist College on Wednesday.
The Spartans (12-1, 1-0 AMC) notched their first point off of a kill by Jen Brendel. The score stayed neck and neck at the start but MBU began to pull away thanks to the exceptional play of Mallory Dillon. The junior propelled Missouri Baptist into the lead with two big kills from the outside.
Shelby Clifton extended the Spartan lead with two service aces followed by a 'free point' as Central Baptist was called out of rotation. MBU continued its pursuit of game point as Kristina Medanovic put up a block to shut down the Mustang middle attack and take the game.
MBU mixed up the lineup for set two out forth a concerted effort for a quick game. Logan Mennemeyer recorded a big over pass kill as Missouri Baptist ran away with the lead for a 25-13 win.
Throughout the first two sets, Missouri Baptist held the Mustangs to negative hitting percentages.
The Spartans had a bumpy start in set three as the Mustangs kept the score close. Hailey Townsendfound herself with a momentum shifting kill to put the Spartans up by two. CBC, however, kept things close for the remainder of the night.
The fight for game three continued deeper into the set as a kill down the line from Clifton forced a CBC time out. The Spartans found themselves at match point with another big kill from Townsend.
Central Baptist dug deep and tied the score at 24 apiece. Marion Couraud put Missouri Baptist back at match point for the second time and, with a set from Natalie Gremaud to the right side, Hannah Careyclosed out the match.
Dillon and Carey led the Spartans with 11 and 10 kills respectively. Clifton was a wonder at the service line and set a new career-high of seven service aces.
Gremaud ran the offense and recorded an MBU career-high total of 34 assists on the night. The transfer recorded an average of 11.3 assists per set.
MBU will continue deeper into its conference schedule with another home game Sept. 18 against Stephens College.
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