ST. LOUIS – No. 4-ranked Missouri Baptist Women's Volleyball won easily on Tuesday night, defeating American Midwest Conference opponent Hannibal-LaGrange University in straight sets, 25-16, 25-9, 25-19. With the 'W,' the Spartans extended their winning streak to 11 matches and remained perfect inside of Lacey Gymnasium with an 8-0 record at home this season.
MBU reigned supreme on the stat sheet Tuesday, leading across the board in kills (46-24), hitting percentage (.440-.085), assists (43-23), aces (8-3), blocks (6-0), and digs (50-31). Much like their conference sweep over UHSP on Tuesday, the Spartans got several players involved in the routing of the Trojans.
Middle blockers
Raylyn Dodd and
Sara Klunder and outside hitters
Isidora Stojovic and
Emma Lattimore were a nearly unstoppable force on the attack in the first two sets, tallying 29 kills with just one error and a lights-out .622 hitting percentage. The offense was set up MBU's mainstay at setter
Manuela Vargas, who shelled out 27 assists in her two sets of action.
The baton was passed on to a different group of Spartans in Set Three as
Carlee Wise,
Liz van Houwelingen, and
Maria Hanusik accounted for 12 of the MBU's 14 kills with four apiece.
Abby Braswell and
Kaili Smith, who had career nights vs. UHSP, shared the setting duties in the third set. The pair finished with seven and six assists, respectively.
Defensively, eight Spartans had at least one block on the night, with Dodd, Stojovic, Smith, and
Kirsten van der Vleuten each registering two block assists apiece and anchoring Missouri Baptist's passing was a group consisting of front-row players
Emma Lattimore (8 digs) and
Giovanna Tapigliani (8 digs) and back row players
Ariana Macies (7 digs) and
Tessa Schneider (7 digs).
MBU had one of its better outings to date from the service line with eight service aces as a team and Macies and Vargas leading the way individually with two apiece.
Amid a four-match homestand, the Spartans will next be in action at home during Homecoming Weekend on Saturday, Oct. 9, when they play host to Williams Baptist University (0-16, 0-1 AMC) at 11 a.m.
