ST. LOUIS—The Spartans closed out regular season play on Thursday evening, hosting the Lincoln College (Ill.) Lynx. Missouri Baptist rolled to a three-set win on senior night, finishing the regular season with a record of 30-3.
All seven seniors hit the court to start the match, quickly jumping out to a six-point lead (9-3). The Lynx tried to play catch up but fell just short of gaining on MBU. A service ace from
Hayley Richardson gave the Spartans set one, 25-15.
Set two followed trend, with the Spartans staying on top. Tied at 5 apiece, seven consecutive kills from Missouri Baptist pushed them ahead by eight (13-5). Lincoln regained possession a handful of times, but it was not enough as MBU took the second set, 25-14.
Coach
Chris Nichols decided to switch up the lineup heading into the third set, but that did not stop the Spartans from taking another quick lead. Following Spartan tradition, leading at 22-15, each senior was subbed out, allowing the next generation of players to finish out the match. A kill from freshman
Sophia Cristiani sealed the deal, giving MBU their final regular-season sweep, 25-21.
Outside hitter
Ana Oliveira led the match with a total of 11 kills.
Maggie Sorensen,
Mallory Moran and
Kristen Williams each followed with seven total kills.
Aubrey Wilson dished out 28 assists, while
Rachel Luebbers and
Hayley Richardson led the back line with 14 and eight digs, respectively.
The Spartans will compete in the conference quarterfinal on Tuesday evening at the Petty SRC. Game time and opponent is still to be determined.