MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – In similar fashion to Friday, No. 4-ranked Missouri Baptist University women's volleyball locked up a 3-0 sweep in Saturday's 9 a.m. match followed by a 3-1 victory in the 1 p.m. matinee. The latest victims of the Spartans' six-match winning streak were in-state foe Missouri Valley College (0-4) and Xavier University (5-3) of Louisiana.
 
Saturday's matches at the St. Thomas University Volleyball Classic marked the final tune-ups for MBU before the Spartans welcome a trio of the NAIA's top teams to the Carl & Deloris Petty Sports & Recreation Center next weekend. In attendance for the Spartan Invitational will be the No. 4-ranked Spartans, No. 5 Viterbo (Wis.), No. 8 Midland (Neb.) and No. 9 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.).
 
In the Missouri Valley match, Missouri Baptist got off to a great start. Early on, the Spartans steadily increased their lead to eight and sustained that margin throughout the first set for a 25-18 win. Two particular Spartans jumpstarted the offense on Saturday morning – opposite hitter Giovanna Tapigliani and outside hitter Lisanne van Houwelingen. Tapigliani did a little bit of everything in the opening set with 4 kills, 2 service aces and a block, while van Houwelingen added 3 kills and an ace.
 
MBU took complete control of the match in the second set holding the Vikings to a -.042 hitting percentage, while registering its best percentage of the match (.308) with 12 kills and just 4 errors.
 
Missouri Valley opened the third set with an 8-1 run only to have it wiped out by the Spartans scoring in seven of the next rallies. The two teams traded points the rest of the way with MBU edging the Vikings, 25-23, to grab its fourth sweep of the weekend.
 
Marina Sanches and Lisanne van Houwelingen finished with a team-high 9 kills apiece with the former hitting .563 for the match.
 
Against Xavier, the Spartans headed into the third frame up two sets to none, but got stopped dead in their tracks. Despite registering a match-best 15 kills in the third set, MBU couldn't get out of its own way, accruing 12 attack errors and 6 reception errors. The Gold Nuggets took advantage of the miscues and extended the match to a fourth set after winning 25-20.
 
The Spartans came out of the break on a tear beginning the fourth set on a 5-0 run. It didn't stop there as they pressed the lead to as much as 12 points [18-6]. Xavier attempted to make one last push but couldn't cut the margin by four. Katie Duncan closed out the match with a block and a pair of kills to give the Spartans their sixth consecutive win. With a 6-0 record on the week, MBU improved to 6-3 overall.
 
Several Spartans made significant contributions in the win. Sophomore setter Morgan Berry, an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American in 2018, averaged 10.5 assists/set while adding 6 digs and 3 block assists to her stat line. Junior libero Ariana Macies averaged an impressive 5 assists/set to go along with 3 service aces. Offensively, the Spartans had five players with 8 or more kills including Tapigliani (11), Duncan (10), Sanches (9), Caterina Cigarini (8) and Isidora Stojovic (8).