SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Missouri Baptist hit a roadblock Friday evening in the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship Quarterfinals falling to No. 11-ranked Marian University in straight sets. With the 25-21, 25-17, 25-23 loss to Marian, the Spartans' 2019 campaign came to a close with an overall record of 34-7 following the program's sixth NAIA Quarterfinal appearance.
 
Despite a disappointing finale, the season was not without its triumphs. In 2019, the Spartans notched eight Top-25 wins including six against teams ranked in the Top 10. Additionally, Missouri Baptist women's volleyball earned a No. 1 ranking for the first time since 2015 and held the top position in three separate polls.
 
In a late-night affair that didn't begin until 10 p.m. due to prior matches going the distance, the Spartans struggled to slow down a hot-hitting Knight squad that moved to 36-2 on the season and a perfect 5-0 through five matches in Sioux City.
 
In fact, at .367, it was the second-highest opponent hitting percentage allowed by MBU this season. Marian's top-four hitters combined for 50 of the team's 54 kills and collectively hit .424.
 
The Spartans' offensive attack, which out-blocked the Knights, 5-3, and hit .254, was unfortunately no match for the team from Indianapolis. On any other day, it may have been enough for the Spartans to pull off the win. MBU entered the match 15-0 when hitting at least .200 and 24-0 when leading in blocks.
 
In Set 1, MBU tied it on four different occasions, but was never able to pull ahead of the Knights. The Spartans tied it as late as 20-20 on a Giovanna Tapigliani kill, but turned right back around with an inopportune service error and lost all momentum.
 
The second set was a tight one in the earlygoing before the Knights went on a 4-0 run to extend its lead to six at 18-12. Marian kept its cushion went on to win the set, 25-17. In what turned out to be the final set of the season for MBU, the two teams battled back and forth and it was again a 4-0 run by Marian that was the backbreaker. Paired with an MBU attack error, MU's Jai-Lyn Norwood recorded three consecutive kills to put the Knights just two points away from their first-ever trip to the NAIA Semifinals. The Spartans scored in four of the last six rallies, but it was too little, too late.
 
Senior middle hitter Caterina Cigarini capped off her decorated career in Navy & White with a team highs in kills (10), hitting % (.444) and blocks (3). Through five matches, the Modena, Italy native had the highest hitting percentage (.415) among players at the final site in Sioux City. Cigarini, who was named AVCA All-Midwest Region Player of the Year on Tuesday, will await the announcements for further postseason accolades.
 
Offensively, the Spartans got nine kills apiece out of Isidora Stojovic and Giovanna Tapigliani and six apiece from Marina Sanches and Katie Duncan.
 
The Spartans, who were 18^th in the country in service aces/set (2.08), got shut out altogether by the Knights in the quarterfinals.
 
Morgan Berry had another good outing at setter finishing with 39 assists, 5 digs and 2 block assists. Libero Ariana Macies and senior defensive specialist Kasia Kaiser had 14 and 8 digs, respectively.