ST. LOUIS – With the regular season coming to a close on Friday, No. 17 Missouri Baptist Women's Volleyball embarked on the first of three matches in four days on Tuesday with a road sweep at Harris-Stowe State University. The Spartans coasted to wins of 25-11 and 25-14 in Sets One and Two before a much closer-contested final set that ended 25-23 in favor of MBU.
 
With Tuesday's victory, the Spartans improved to 24-3 and 7-1 in the AMC while capturing their 18^th sweep on the year. Of MBU's 24 wins, 75 percent of them have been by way of 3-0 sweeps.
 
As evident by the 25-11 score, the opening set was the most lopsided of the three. MBU's defense held the Hornets to just four kills and a -.143 hitting percentage. Amplifying the Spartans' runaway victory was six service aces including three from junior Tessa Schneider, two from the AMC leader Maria Hanusik, and one from Rachel Kinney.
 
Harris-Stowe hung with the Spartans to begin Set Two and had the set tied at 10-all. MBU kicked it into overdrive scoring in 15 of the last 19 rallies. At the service line, the Spartans added for more aces to their total.
 
Despite leading for a large part of Set Three, the Spartans were forced to play from behind late in the frame. Down by two at 21-19, MBU turned to Gabi Jakubowska and Carlee Wise to close the gap and they didn't disappoint. Three consecutive kills from Jakubowska and Wise (2) squashed Harris-Stowe's chances at a set point and preserved the Spartans sweep.
 
Freshman opposite hitter Gabi Jakubowska paced the Spartans on Tuesday with 10 kills on 15 and did so without an attack error (.667%). Three other Spartans recorded at least five kills on the day including Kirsten van der Vleuten (6 K, .556%), Emma Lattimore (5 K, .200%), and Sara Klunder (5 K, .500%).
 
Other stat leaders included Tessa Schneider with a career-high four service aces, Kassie Lee with two solo blocks, Shannon McLain with 18 assists, and Rachel Kinney with 14 digs from the libero spot.
 
On Thursday, the Spartans will recognize five student-athletes for Senior Night – Rachel Kinney, Nathiellen Machado, Liz van Houwelingen, Carlee Wise, and Kaili Smith – as they play host to Central Baptist College at 5 p.m.