SPRINGFIELD, Mo. ­– Fresh off being dubbed No. 4 in the initial NAIA Women's Volleyball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll, Missouri Baptist University experienced its first setbacks of the year on Thursday against two quality opponents at the Evangel University Preseason Classic. The Spartans dropped a five-setter to (RV) Oklahoma City University in the official season opener before suffering their first 3-0 loss of the year to 17^th-ranked Central Methodist University.
 
In both matches, Missouri Baptist had to play from behind and couldn't quite slow down the Stars or Eagles enough to complete a comeback.
 
Against Oklahoma City, the Spartans struggled to find any traction in the first two sets and lost by scores of 25-15 and 25-11. Aside from NAIA First-Team All-American Caterina Cigarini and 5-6 returning role players, MBU trotted out several new faces and starters to the lineup. The new-look Spartans showed grit in the first match, battling back from the 2-0 deficit to force a fifth set. One of the Spartans' standouts was newcomer Giovanna Tapigliani who came alive in the fourth frame with eight of her match-best 21 kills.
 
Despite a small and early 2-1 Missouri Baptist advantage, OCU led for most of the tiebreaker set and eventually scored the last four points of the set to win, 15-8.
 
One of the difference makers in the match for Oklahoma City was a 14-2 advantage in service aces and 12-2 advantage in blocks.
 
Another slow start to the 7 p.m. matchup against No. 17 Central Methodist sealed the Spartans' fate. CMU coasted to a 25-15 win in the first set.
 
MBU's best chance at getting back into the match and stealing a frame from the Eagles was in Set No. 2 when the Spartans led as late as 20-18. Unfortunately, errors got the best of the Spartans and came up two points short in a 25-23 loss.
 
Missouri Baptist led early in the third, but went missing in the middle of the set, yielding 13 points to the Eagles in a 15-point stretch. That stretch also included a 7-0 run from the Eagles.
 
CMU leaned on the offensive prowess of Viviane Viana, Jane Kickham and Jordan Wolfe, who combined for 33 of the Eagles' 49 kills. As a team, Central Methodist hit .380 on the evening and closed out the match with an impressive 18 kills on 30 swings (0.467).
 
For the Spartans, Tapigliani paced the offense with 3.6 kills per set and 29 total kills in two matches. Other notable performances included Caterina Cigarini, who hit .290 on the day while the rest of the team hit 0.079. Iowa Western Community College transfer Ariana Macies also logged 24 digs and 9 kills against OCU.
 
The Spartans will look for win No. 1 of 2019 on Friday in their final match at the Evangel Preseason Classic when they face University of Mobile (1-1) at 9:30 a.m.