COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 3-ranked Missouri Baptist women's volleyball team weathered the storm again on Wednesday after dropping the opening set for a second night in a row. Despite an early setback, the Spartans countered with vengeance to defeat Stephens College on the road, 26-28, 25-14, 25-11, 25-17, and extended their winning streak to 16 games.
 
MBU improved to 20-2 on the year, marking the 16^th straight season with 20+ wins. In conference, the Spartans are sitting pretty in first place with an unblemished 6-0 record and four AMC matches remaining.
 
Leading by as much as seven and with set point on three different occasions, the Spartans were unable to close the deal. Even with a 14-11 advantage in kills, MoBap couldn't get out of its own way in the 28-26 Set 1 loss, nearly matching the kill total with attack errors (13) and a .020 hitting percentage.
 
The second and third sets went much smoother for the Spartans as they hit .310 in the second and had just one attack error in the third for a match-best .500 hitting percentage. MBU finished off the Stars in the fourth, leading throughout the set and pulling away with seven points in the last nine rallies.
 
Stephens College, coached by former MBU men's and women's volleyball graduate assistant Nathan Davis, found a way to slow down Giovanna Tapigliani, who hammered down a career-high 26 kills in Tuesday's win over 19^th-ranked Columbia. The Spartans' top attacker was limited to eight kills on 29 swings (.034) but managed to put a few more points on the board with two aces and three block assists.
 
Leading the way for MBU on Wednesday was outside hitter Emma Lattimore with her second consecutive double-double of 11 kills and 13 digs. The Spartans were most productive on attack with Liz van Houwelingen, and middles Raylyn Dodd and Sara Klunder, who all had nine kills apiece and combined to hit .311 as a group.
 
Other notable performances included setter Manuela Vargas, who had a stat line of 42 assists, six digs, three service aces, two blocks and two kills, and libero Ariana Macies, who recorded a match-best 21 digs and two assists.
 
The Spartans will return to the court on Monday, Oct. 25 for Senior Night – the start of a three-game stretch in three days. On Tuesday, No. 3 MBU will trek to No. 10-ranked Central Methodist, followed by a non-conference rematch and regular-season home final vs. Stephens on Wednesday.