ST. LOUIS – Three Spartans including Caterina Cigarini, Giovanna Tapigliani and reigning AMC Attacker of the Week Isidora Stojovic, each recorded 10+ kills on Thursday to steer the top-ranked Missouri Baptist women's volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep at home over Ottawa University (Kan.). The Spartans were also strong defensively and zipped past the Braves 25-14, 25-18, 25-19 in a match that lasted just over an hour.
 
MBU, which improved to 14-3 on the year, holds one of the NAIA's longest active winning streaks at the moment at 14. With Tuesday's win against Ottawa (7-6, 0-0 KCAC), the Spartans registered their second straight sweep of the Braves, a team receiving votes in the latest NAIA Women's Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
 
Setting the tone early, Missouri Baptist rattled off seven straight points with libero Ariana Macies serving to start the contest. Fresh off of an 18-kill performance at William Woods on Tuesday, 6-4 senior Caterina Cigarini was back at it again offensively with 6 kills and 2 block assists in the Spartans' 25-14 win in Set 1.
 
Ottawa challenged the Spartans in the beginning of the second set, even leading by as much as three. Unfortunately for the Braves though, MoBap bounced back from their early miscues to score in 10 of the final 13 rallies. With the set tied at 15-all, the tide turned with three straight kills by Giovanna Tapigliani. The junior opposite hitter mirrored Caterina Cigarini's opening set with six kills in the frame to go along with a block assist.
 
Missouri Baptist's middle blocking duo of Cigarini and Marina Sanches stole the show in the third set. With a back-and-forth start to Set 3, the Spartans used a stretch of 9 points in 10 rallies to surge ahead of the Braves and create a seven-point buffer. During that stretch, Sanches put down two kills and a pair of dominant solo blocks. Cigarini chipped in five more kills and a block in the third. Both Cigarini and Sanches found themselves setting on two separate occasions and each was credited with the rare assist as middles.
 
For the second straight match, Cigarini led all Spartans in hitting with a red-hot .524 attack percentage and 13 kills. Joining the Italian in double digit kills was Giovanna Tapigliani, who finished with 10 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks and 2 service aces, and Isidora Stojovic, who registered a double-double with 10 kills and 16 digs.
 
Playing against her former team for the first time since transferring, setter Morgan Berry kept up her strong play with 37 assists (12.33 a/s) and 5 digs. As everyone has come to expect out of libero Ariana Macies, the junior from Santa Fe, Argentina dug 23 balls for a remarkable average of 7.66 digs per set.
 
Despite being out-blocked for the second match in a row, MBU more than made up for it by doubling its opponent's kill output (47-23) and holding the Braves to a .035 hitting clip.
 
The Spartans will hit the road for another non-conference matchup on Monday when they travel to Terre Haute, Ind. to take on prospective NAIA member St. Mary-of-the-Woods College at 5 p.m.