ST. LOUIS – The No. 5-ranked Missouri Baptist University women's volleyball team opened its American Midwest Conference slate with a 3-0 sweep of William Woods on Thursday evening at the Carl & Deloris Petty SRC. MBU won by set scores of 25-18, 25-13, and 25-19.
 
The Spartans, who move to 10-2, 1-0 AMC on the season, hit .340 as a team with 10 aces and five blocks. The hitting percentage and service ace total represented the second-highest outputs for the Spartans this year.
 
MBU middle blockers Sara Klunder and Carlee Wise proved to be a handful for the visiting Owls combining for 21 kills on 38 attempts (.447). At the net, one of the two contributed to each of the team's five blocks.
 
In the opening frame, Klunder set the tone early, hammering home five kills in her first six attack attempts. MoBap dished out a pair of 5-1 runs to distance itself from WWU and take Set One, 25-18.
 
The Owls cleaned up their attack in Set Two to hit .474 with 10 kills and just one attack error. Unfortunately for William Woods, the Spartans countered with an even more impressive set. Near flawless, MBU scored all 25 points on its own, erupting for 18 kills on 25 swings for a red-hot .640 hitting %, six service aces, and a block. All five Spartans' starting hitters recorded at least three kills in the 25-13 set win.
 
Neither squad kept up the pace of Set Two, and William Woods even grabbed the momentum early in the set with a 12-9 advantage. However, the Owls' lead was short-lived as Missouri Baptist rallied with a 9-2 run to pull away for good.
 
Sara Klunder and Maria Hanusik tied for the team-high in points as Klunder finished with a match-best 12 kills (.409%) and one block assist, while Hanusik did a little bit of everything with six kills (.429%), five aces, including four in Set Two, three block assists, and six digs.
 
Junior Shannon McLain had a stellar night setting for the Spartans averaging 12.33 assists per set with 16 in the second-set fireworks.
 
Other notable performances included Carlee Wise with nine kills (.500%) and a team-high four blocks, Rachel Kinney with eight kills and nine digs, Liz van Houwelingen with seven kills, and Nathiellen Machado with a match-best 13 digs and two aces.
 
No. 5 MBU ends its three-match homestand on Saturday morning as it squares off with new AMC member Cottey College in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.