ST. LOUIS—Women's Volleyball hosted the Park University Pirates on Friday evening. After five intense sets, the No. 1 ranked Pirates managed to slide right by Missouri Baptist, breaking the Spartans 27 game win streak.

As expected, the match began with the two Top 3 teams trading points back and forth. The match was tied at eight apiece when a kill from Mallory Moran allowed the Spartans to gain three on the Pirates (11-8). MBU maintained the lead until a couple of errors, combined with smart plays from Park allowed them to tie things back up (17-17). Moran answered back, once again, with a kill that would allow MBU to regain the lead. From there, the Spartans cruised to the first set win, 25-22.

In sets two and three, the squads went point for point early on. However, the Pirates managed to run away with the lead this time around. They stayed just a step ahead of MBU, coming out on top, 25-17 and 25-16.

The Spartans recognized that set four was "do or die", as they hit the court with adrenaline running high. They rolled to an early 5-0 lead, but a strategic timeout taken by the Pirates helped put them back in the game (6-5). They stayed on MBUs tail for the remainder of set four but ultimately could not catch up. Smart plays from the Spartans forced the match into a tiebreaking set, as they claimed the fourth set, 25-19.

The fifth set seemed to be anybody's game as the teams continued to battle it out. Tied at 8-8, a kill from the Pirates, followed by a Spartan error prompted a timeout from MBU Head Coach Chris Nichols. Another kill from Moran gave the Spartans a fighting chance (10-14), but it was to no avail. The Pirates snagged set five, 15-11, giving the Spartans their first conference loss this season.

Outside hitter Mallory Moran led the match in the kills category, clocking out with a total of 21. On the defensive end, she tabbed two solo blocks and four digs.

Libero Rachel Luebbers finished the evening with 15 digs, while setter Megan Huffman dished out 42 assists.

The Spartans close out conference play on Tuesday, October 30. They will host the Trojans of Hannibal-LaGrange at 6 p.m.