ST. LOUIS—The No. 3 ranked Spartans traveled to Parkville, Mo. to compete in the American Midwest Conference semifinals. They faced off with the No. 4 ranked Columbia (Mo.) Cougars for the second time this season. This time around the Spartans did not come up with the win, as the Cougars claimed the match in three sets.

The teams immediately went point for point in set one. Tied at seven, a kill from Columbia put them ahead, allowing them to slowly pull away from MBU. The teams battled it out, but the Cougars maintained the lead, taking set one, 25-18.

The second set followed suit, as the top teams traded possession back and forth early on. The teams found themselves tied up 12 times in set two alone. With the score at 17 apiece, another kill from Columbia gave them the lead for the remainder of the set. A Cougar error followed by a service ace from Hayley Richardson (24-23) gave the Spartans a fighting chance, but it was to no avail. Columbia took set two, 25-23.

Set three was a slow start for MBU as Columbia rolled to a nine-point lead (14-5). Errors plagued the Spartans, allowing the Cougars to continue to push their lead all the way to match point (24-15). Kills from Aubrey Wilson and Megan Huffman gave MBU one last chance at a scoring run, but it was not enough. A kill from Columbia gave them the match, knocking the Spartans out of the conference tournament.

The Spartans have an Opening Round bye, and now await the NAIA's Championship bracket reveal.