ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Baptist Spartans begin their quest for a third consecutive NAIA Women's Volleyball national championship on Saturday morning when they host Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament runner-up Bryan College in the SRC's Lacey Gymnasium at 10:30 a.m. With the earliest start time, Missouri Baptist, and Bryan, out of Dayton, Tenn., will kick off a day filled with 24 National Opening Round matches.
 
HOW TO WATCH
Tickets – MBUSpartans.UniversityTickets.com
Live Video – SpartanDigitalNetwork.com
Live Stats – statb.us/b/436917

HOW THE SPARTANS QUALIFIED

• Earned the American Midwest Conference's second NAIA National bid as the tournament champion
• Playing at home for the Quarterfinals, MBU swept No. 7-seed Hannibal-LaGrange – 25-16, 25-14, 25-19
• Recorded 22nd sweep of the season with a 25-16, 25-22, 25-12 Semifinal win over No. 3-seed William Woods
• Avenged two earlier road losses to Columbia with a hard-fought 25-21, 25-20, 24-26, 25-22 win over the AMC regular season champs and 16th-ranked Cougars
   

HOW THE LADY LIONS QUALIFIED

• Earned the Appalachian Athletic Conference's second NAIA National bid as tournament runner-up
• Entered AAC Tournament as the No. 2 overall seed
• With a first-round bye in the 10-team tourney, BC snuck past No. 10-seed Johnson (Tenn.) in the Quarterfinals, 3-2 [30-28, 25-19, 17-25, 21-25, 15-10
• Swept No. 3-seed Bluefield (Va.) in the Semifinals, 25-15, 25-17, 25-22
• Lost in three to No. 1 seed & No. 22-ranked Columbia International University (S.C.)
   

SERIES HISTORY

• Missouri Baptist is 3-0 all-time against Bryan College
• The two teams last met at the Montreat College Tournament in 2012 ; MBU defeated BC, 27-25, 30-28, 25-21
• The other two meetings took place in 2007 and 2009 at Columbia College's Best Western Classic ; both matches in Columbia, Mo. went to five sets

 
NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

• This is Bryan's fifth NAIA Tournament appearance
• BC qualified in 2012, 2013, 2020, 2021, & 2022
• BC is 0-4 all-time in NAIA Opening Round matches
   
• This is MBU's 14th NAIA Tournament appearance
• MBU is 4-0 all-time in NAIA Opening Round matches
• The Spartans have made it out of Pool Play and into at least the Round of 16 in each of the past eight seasons
• MBU is 42-23 all-time in NAIA Tournament play and has won 12 straight ; the Spartans' last loss came in 2019 in the Quarterfinals to eventual champion Marian (Ind.)
   

OTHER NAIA NATIONAL QUALIFIER NOTES

• Of the 48 Opening Round qualifiers, the Spartans played eight tournament teams during the regular season including Columbia (Mo.), Cumberland, Indiana Wesleyan, Midland, Ottawa (Kan.), St. Ambrose, St. Thomas (Fla.), and Viterbo ; the Spartans went 7-3 versus that particular group
• Missouri Baptist is one of 16 teams in the 2022 field that has made 10 or more appearance in the National Tournament
• The American Midwest Conference has two teams represented in the Opening Round including No. 12 Missouri Baptist and No. 16 Columbia ; in contrast, the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) brings the highest number of qualifiers to the field with seven teams: No. 2 Jamestown, No. 3 Midland, No. 4 Concordia (Neb.), No. 6 Dakota Wesleyan, No. 8 Northwestern (Iowa), No. 15 College of Saint Mary, and (RV) Hastings
• Missouri Baptist is one of five teams in the 2022 field that has previously won a title along with Columbia, Hastings, Marian, and Park
• MBU, Columbia, and former AMC rival Park are the only teams in the field who have won more than one national title