ST. LOUIS – The top-ranked Missouri Baptist University women's volleyball team is once again hitting its stride heading into the final stretch of the regular season. Playing in the familiar confines of Lacey Gymnasium on Tuesday of Homecoming Week, the Spartans blanked NCAA DII Maryville University, 25-16, 25-19, 25-14 thanks to another solid offensive performance.
 
MBU, which has won its past 10 contests against Maryville, hit .310 for the match while limiting its neighbor down Conway Road to a .066 attack percentage.
 
Outside of the loss at AMC rival Park University two weeks ago, Missouri Baptist has cranked out eight sweeps in nine matches.
 
The first half of Set 1 was a back-and-forth battle between the two teams, however, midway through the Spartans found an opening and capitalized increasing their lead to 15-11. MoBap kicked it into a different gear to end the set, scoring the final six points in a 25-16 win.
 
Maryville and Missouri Baptist both hit above .300 in the second set with neither defense slowing the other one down outside of the Spartans' 4-0 advantage in blocks. As a team, MBU hit .458 compared to MU's .321 to grab the second set, 25-19. Reigning AMC Attacker of the Week Isidora Stojovic notched four kills in the frame including three key ones at the end of the set.
 
The 6-foot-2 outside hitter picked up where she left off with the first kill of the next set, sparking a 12-2 run to begin Set 3. Despite a hitting a match-low .152, the Spartans had nothing to worry about as the Saints managed to record only four kills in the set with their second negative hitting percentage in the match.
 
For the fourth straight match, Isidora Stojovic led the team in kills with 11. The Belgrade, Serbia native was also active on defense pulling up 9 digs. MBU's middle blockers – Marina Sanches and Caterina Cigarini – were efficient as usual. Sanches finished second on the team with 8 kills on .462 hitting to go along with 4 block assists. Senior Caterina Cigarini had six kills on eight swings with a .625 hitting percentage and 4 blocks (1 S, 3 A).
 
Setter Morgan Berry registered 30 assists (10.0 a/s) and continued her tear from the service line with three more service aces. The sophomore has accumulated 17 of her team-leading 40 service aces in the last four matches. Other Spartans to record aces included freshman Lisanne van Houwelingen (2), Katie Duncan (1) and Natalie Hecht (1), who served in seven straight rallies during MBU's 12-2 start to the third set.
 
Up next, No. 1-ranked Missouri Baptist travels to Columbia, Mo. On tap for the Columbia College Fall Classic is Kansas Wesleyan (5-15, 2-4 KCAC) and Ottawa (16-9, 5-1 KCAC) on Friday and Wiley College (14-4, 7-1 RRAC) on Saturday.