ST. LOUIS – The No. 5-ranked Missouri Baptist women's volleyball team was firing on all cylinders Tuesday evening as it cruised to a 25-14, 25-16, 25-7 straight-set victory over second-place William Woods. With the dominant win over the Owls (6-3, 6-1 AMC), who were previously unbeaten in conference matches, the Spartans clinched the No. 1 seed for next week's AMC Women's Volleyball Championship and have secured at least a share of the regular-season title.
 
With a win against Stephens College on Thursday, the Spartans would capture the AMC regular-season championship outright for just the second time in program history. The only other time that MBU has finished atop the AMC regular-season standings was in 2015, the same year the Spartans made it to the NAIA National Championship match.
 
MoBap has swept through all eight conference opponents it has faced this season and improved to 17-2 overall and 8-0 in the AMC. William Woods suffered its first sweep of the season and was held to a season-low .113 hitting percentage with no blocks on the night – a far cry from the season-best 15 blocks that the Owls posted against (RV) Columbia on March 27.
 
With little resistance at the net, Missouri Baptist capitalized in a big way and was practically error-free. En route to their 15^th sweep of the season, the Spartans hit a season-high .494 with just attack errors. The .494 marked the team's highest attack percentage since a .613 clip vs. Hannibal-LaGrange in 2017.
 
While WWU scored three of the first four points out of the gate, No. 5 Missouri Baptist settled in and had its best set statistically with 15 kills on 23 swings (.609) while recording five service aces and three blocks.
 
Spartan middles Raylyn Dodd and Sara Klunder laid down the groundwork in Set Two, combining for eight kills, two solo blocks, and two assisted blocks. Freshman middle blocker Sara Klunder racked up five kills on six swings (.833) to pace the Spartans in the 25-16 set win.
 
The wheels came off the bus for William Woods in Set 3 as the Spartans overwhelmed the visitors. MBU pulled away with a 10-0 run with Manuela Vargas at the service line. The senior setter wreaked havoc on the Owls' serve receive delivering four aces in five attempts. Offensively, Sara Klunder had another productive set, finishing with four kills and three blocks, a handful of which came in the 6-1 run to end the match.
 
Klunder led all players with a career-high 10 kills and added five blocks (1 S, 4 A), two service aces, and two digs to her final stat line. All seven Spartans who registered attack attempts hit .400 or above on the night. The most efficient was senior middle blocker Raylyn Dodd, who had a kill nearly every time the ball came her way. Dodd notched nine kills on 11 attempts for a red-hot hitting percentage of .727 along with six blocks.
 
Manuela Vargas paced the Spartans in assists (32) and service aces (5) while adding six digs and a pair of block assists.
 
MBU will wrap up the regular season on Thursday at home against Stephens College (4-9, 2-6 AMC). In addition to celebrating Senior Night, the Spartans will have their sights set on capturing the regular-season title outright. Senior Night recognition will begin roughly 20 minutes before the first serve.