PARKVILLE, Mo. – Held to a season low in both kills and attack percentage, the Missouri Baptist University women's volleyball team came up one win short in its quest for an American Midwest Conference (AMC) tournament title on Saturday. The Spartans, who had recently reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll, fell in straight sets to the AMC Tournament top seeded Park Pirates by a score of 25-21, 25-15, 25-21.
 
Park grabbed the program's third AMC tournament title (2014, 2017, 2019) in its farewell tour as it departs for the Heart of America Athletic Conference in 2020-21.
 
Both teams had underwhelming performances offensively with MBU hitting a mere .071 and 29 kills, its lowest outputs of the season. Meanwhile, the Pirates hit just .109, their second-lowest hitting percentage of the year as well as the second-lowest kill total (34).
 
One area that was showcased in the AMC Championship was both defenses. 2019 AMC Defender of the Year Celina Monteiro and Spartans' Ariana Macies confirmed why they were selected to the All-AMC First Team as each libero recorded 25 digs, respectively. Park and Missouri Baptist were both active at the net as well, but it was the Pirates who held a slight 12-8 advantage in that category. Park middle Maren Roper led all players with a whopping nine blocks, while Caterina Cigarini notched six in the loss.
 
That was the only thing that Cigarini could get going on Saturday as the AMC Co-Player of the Year was limited to just two kills on 16 swings (-.063), just her second negative hitting percentage of the season.
 
Leading the Spartans offensively were junior opposite hitter Giovanna Tapigliani with 9 kills and junior outside hitter Isidora Stojovic with 7 kills.
 
Missouri Baptist drops to 31-5 overall with two of the five losses coming at Breckon Sports Center versus Park. The Pirates extended its win streak against MBU to six matches while widening the gap in the all-time to 12-9 in favor of Park.
 
Despite the loss, the Spartans still secured one of the AMC's two automatic bids for the 2019 NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship making it their sixth straight appearance. Missouri Baptist will learn its seeding on Monday, November 18 at 10 a.m. as a part of the NAIA's Live National Championship Qualifier video reveal show. The Facebook Live show can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/PlayNAIA/.