SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Missouri Baptist Women's Volleyball completed its mission on Saturday night in Sioux City. The Spartans will return to St. Louis as national champions with a 3-2 victory over Midland (Neb.) in the 2020 NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship at the Tyson Event Center.
 
Missouri Baptist (28-2, 9-0 AMC) broke through for the first time in team history in its second trip to the national championship match. On the heels of a five-set match just 24 hours prior, the Spartans did it again and came out victorious to claim its first women's volleyball national title in team history. The team last was in the title game in 2015 against conference rival Columbia (Mo.).
 
After a first set loss, the Spartans regrouped and put together an inspired effort in the second set. The team hit .583 with 15 kills and just one error as it stormed back to tie the match at one with a 25-14 set two win.
 
The third set went back and fourth until the latter stages as Missouri Baptist stayed consistently down by one to two points. A late timeout, however, proved useful and the Spartans went from a 23-21 deficit to up 24-23 in the blink of an eye. Midland, however, had other plans.  The Warriors made a 3-0 run to end the set and take a 2-1 advantage into the fourth set.
 
In the fourth, Missouri Baptist seemed to be in some trouble midway through. Midland built a 10-5 lead and looked to be in control. The Spartans went on a 4-0 run, however, to cut the deficit to one. Minutes later, down 14-12, another large run helped the navy and white take its first lead since the set's opening minutes.
 
The Spartans ran-off five consecutive points to grab a 17-14 advantage and never looked back in a 25-19 win.
 
As things, once again, came down to the fifth set, Missouri Baptist used its momentum to build an early lead. The Spartans never trailed in the final frame and celebrated after a Giovanna Tapigliani kill to firmly cement the team in NAIA history as national champions.
 
"That just shows the character of the ladies we have," said head coach Chris Nichols. "They never give-up on each other, they stick together. That's what it takes to do this in this tournament. This tournament is hard, you had to win all these matches in a row against awesome teams. A lot of really good programs. It takes grit, leaning on each other and staying together and that's exactly what they did."
 
In the match, Tapigliani finished with 22 kills on 56 swings with a .339 attack percentage. Isidora Stojovic racked up 16 kills on 47 swings while Manuela Vargas dished out 51 assists. Ariana Macies and Emma Lattimore combined for 52 digs in the match.

The Spartans finished with 19 total team blocks on the night, one shy of a season high. Active all night at the net, senior middle Raylyn Dodd rewrote a 20-year-old record for most blocks in a single-match with 15 (2 solo, 13 assisted). She surpassed Meleshia Purcell's 14-block performance in 2001. Several Spartans joined the block party with Dodd, most notably, Giovanna Tapigliani with nine, Manuela Vargas with five and Carlee Wise, who played a key role off the bench, with four.
 
In addition to earning its first red banner in volleyball, Missouri Baptist also got its first set victory in a national title game in the second set. This is the third national championship MBU has brought back to St. Louis. Both indoor and outdoor track and field earned national titles in 2006.
 
"It means everything for the program. Since I got here in 2005, this has been the goal," Nichols said. "Really, anybody that played here from 2005 and on, they all had a big part in this. It just feels amazing to finally get it done!"
 
After the match, the All-Tournament awards were announced. Coach Chris Nichols was named the National Championship Coach of the Year while setter Manuela Vargas was named the National Championship Most Valuable Player. Below is the full list of Spartans that earned post-championship honors.
 
NAIA National Championship Coach of the Year: Chris Nichols
NAIA National Championship Most Valuable Player: Manuela Vargas
 
NAIA All-Tournament Team
Ariana Macies
Giovanna Tapigliani