ST. LOUIS – The No. 4-ranked Missouri Baptist University women's volleyball team turned in its most efficient offensive performance of the year Monday evening in a 25-19, 25-16, 25-11 sweep of Stephens College. Nearly the entire Spartan roster contributed to the offensive outburst that resulted in a season-best .426 hitting percentage.
MBU got back on track Monday after suffering just its third loss of the season last week at No. 23 Columbia. The Spartans improve to 23-3 with their 17
th sweep and move to 6-1 in conference play. Stephens meanwhile drops to 14-11, 3-3 AMC.
MoBap's starting six set the tone in Set One with all five hitters recording at least two kills. Stealing the spotlight though was senior
Liz van Houwelingen who had five high-flying, highlight reel kills on seven swings (.714%). Middle blocker
Sara Klunder started out near perfect as well with four kills on five attack attempts. The Stars hung around with 13 kills and an impressive .323 hitting percentage, but it wasn't enough to unseat MBU in the 25-19 set win.
With
Kaili Smith setting in Set Two, the Spartans separated themselves early with seven consecutive points to go up 8-3 and didn't look back. Smith finished the 25-16 second set win with 11 assists, three digs and a kill. MBU hit .343% in the frame and continued to spread the love to multiple Spartan targets.
Kicking it up a notch, the MBU attack saved the best for last. In a runaway 25-11 set victory, the Spartans hit a red-hot .586% with 19 kills and just two attack errors. Leading the charge for the Spartans was sophomore transfer
Marina Obradovic with seven kills (.545%), who also picked up six digs in the set as well, and middle blocker
Kirsten van der Vleuten, who was error-free with six kills on eight swings (.750%).
Missouri Baptist was just as impressive defensively as it was on offense. The Spartans finished with a 51-33 advantage in digs, yielded only one service ace, and didn't allow a Stephens block to drop on the evening. Monday's starting libero
Rachel Kinney held down the fort with a match-best 14 digs, followed by
Nathiellen Machado with eight.
The Spartans have one remaining road game next Tuesday at Harris-Stowe State University before a pair of home contests on Thursday (Nov. 3) and Friday (Nov. 4) to end the regular season.
