KANSAS CITY, Mo. – With several new pairings this year, the Missouri Baptist University women's beach volleyball team got off to as good of a start as it could hope for grabbing three victories in Kansas City to open the season on Monday afternoon.
The Spartans earned wins over NCAA DII Wayne State College (Neb.) and both the Ottawa University (Kan.) JV and varsity programs to move to 3-0 on the year. Missouri Baptist defeated Wayne State, 3-2, Ottawa, 4-1, and Ottawa JV, 5-0.
Two Spartan groupings went undefeated on Monday including one new pairing and one duo returning from 2019.
Starting out at No. 1 versus Wayne State, senior
Sarah Bolton and junior
Isidora Stojovic teamed up to defeat WSC's Hope Carter and Jaci Brahmer, 21-17, 21-19. Bolton and Stojovic held down the No. 2 slot in both Ottawa matches defeating the Braves' JV No. 2s, 21-11, 21-14, and the varsity No. 2s with a tiebreaker set, 21-14, 20-22, 15-12.
Also going 3-0 on the day was the Spartans' No. 3s –
Sarah Wilson and
Sophia Cristiani – who played primarily at the No. 5 spot last year. Wilson and Cristiani helped MBU defeat Wayne State with a 21-15, 21-16 win over the Wildcats' pair Alyssa Ballenger & Rachel Walker. They cruised to a 21-10, 21-12 win in their second match before closing out Monday's action with a 21-16, 21-16 win over Ottawa's Emily Jackson and Ayona Tharps.
The senior-freshman combo of
Kamden Maas and
Lisanne van Houwelingen went 2-1 on the day as the pair split their matches at the No. 1 position and was 1-0 at No. 2.
Despite losing their opening matches against Wayne State, No. 4s
Sam Kurm and
Ariana Macies, and No. 5s
Morgan Berry and
Nicole Bott, rebounded with two wins apiece over their Ottawa opponents.
Next weekend, the Spartans will travel south to the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Tourney where they will play Cedar Valley College, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Stephen F. Austin and a rematch with Ottawa (Kan.).
