ST. LOUIS [BOX SCORE] [BOX SCORE]-- Missouri Baptist Women's Volleyball continued their 2017 season on Friday with matches against Huntington University (Ind.), and Viterbo University (Wis.). Both matches consisted of a lot of back-and-forth play.
It was hard to tell who might win the first match, as both teams hashed out their best. The first two sets were very close. The Spartans took the first set, 21-25, while Huntington came out on top for the second, 25-22.
The third set started off just like the others. The game was extremely close, with neither team leading by more than two points for the majority of the time. MBU had a few kills from Marion Couraud and Cate Cigarini, but it wasn't enough to overcome the errors which led to their defeat. The Spartans fell in the third set, 25-17.
Missouri Baptist took a quick lead in the fourth set, but the Foresters were ready to bounce right back. Once again, it was a neck-and-neck game.
The Spartans gained a healthy lead when junior Kamden Maas hit the court to serve, dishing out three aces. MBU finished the fourth set, 20-25, taking the game to a tiebreaker.
The Spartans soon realized this set wouldn't be any different from the others. Missouri Baptist was up by just two points when the front line decided to start dishing out some kills. A Couraud kill finally ended the match, 10-15.
The second match started off much like the first. The game was close throughout the first two sets, but the Spartans managed to come out on top, winning both games by two (25-23, 25-23). The third set started off just like the first two, but halfway through, MBU seemed to be losing momentum. The V-Hawks fed off the Spartans sudden loss of energy, taking the match to a fourth set (13-25), followed by a fifth.
The Spartans hit the court for the fifth set ready to put up a fight. The backrow was doing all the right things, digging up everything that got past the front line. Rachel Luebbers and Marion Couraud finished the match with 18 and 13 digs, respectively, while Rachel Poole and MaryGrace Masters each had 11.
Unfortunately, the squad could not seem to make the necessary plays to beat out Viterbo. MBU fell in an intense tiebreaker, 13-15.
Leading the Spartans, Cate Cigarini finished the day with 33 kills. Tina Medanovic and Marion Couraudwere close behind with 30 and 29, respectively.
Missouri Baptist finishes up in Columbia on Saturday. They will take on Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) at 9 am, and University of St. Francis (Ind.) at 1 pm.
