ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist's AMC Volleyball Tournament winning streak came to an end on Saturday as the Spartans dropped a five-set heartbreaker at home to No. 2 seed Columbia College in the championship match. The loss put an end to an impressive stretch that spanned four seasons, 11 consecutive AMC Tournament wins, and just one set loss prior to Saturday.
It was a rollercoaster of a ride in just the fourth championship final since 1998 to go to five sets. In the three previous five-setters, the lower seed prevailed in each instance. No. 8 MBU won Sets One and Four, but a quick start in the tiebreaker set helped Columbia outlast the tournament's top seed, 20-25, 25-21, 25-15, 18-25, 15-13.
The Cougars did what very few teams accomplish at the Carl & Deloris Petty SRC and that's leave with a win. Since the SRC opened in 2011, the Spartans have lost just 18 times in 177 matches.
In Set One, MoBap jumped out to a 6-2 lead and was hitting well above .500 in its first 20 attack attempts of the match. Columbia stayed within reach of the Spartans and narrowed the gap to 21-20, but
Sara Klunder notched four straight kills to finish off a 25-20 set win.
Things looked promising for MBU in the beginning of Set Two as well as
Maria Hanusik's service run, which included a pair of aces, gave the Spartans a nice 5-0 start. Columbia head coach Allison Jones-Olson called a timeout to stall the Spartan run and the Cougars landed back-to-back points out of the break. The visitors kept chipping away and finally took their first lead of the match at the 19-18 mark. MBU went cold and surrendered six of the last seven points to Columbia. CC tied the match with a 25-21 set win.
A pair of costly coldspells doomed the Spartans in Set Three. And even so, it may not have turned the tide as Columbia had its best set with 15 kills, zero attack errors and a match-best .484 hitting percentage.
With their backs against wall, MBU went on an 8-1 run to go up 15-9 and never looked back. The Spartans won by seven, 25-18, and had the momentum and energy inside Lacey Gymnasium in their favor heading into the fifth.
The Cougars struck first with an Allana Capella kill to halt the momentum and silence the crowd. CC had the Spartans playing from behind throughout and led by as much as four. The Spartans made their move and knotted the set at 10-all, 11-all. A
Gabi Jakubowska kill gave MBU its first and only lead of the deciding set [12-11]. Unfortunately, CC's duo of Alyana Rooks and Agatha Emanuelle put the match away with four of last five points. The Cougars won 15-13 to secure their 23
rd AMC Tournament title.
Senior middle blocker
Sara Klunder and
Gabi Jakubowska finished with 16 kills apiece, with
Tayler Neal not far behind with 13. Klunder and fellow middle
Kirsten van der Vleuten were quite efficient teaming up to hit .386% for the match, while MBU's pins had trouble hitting into Columbia's block [12 team blocks]. Setter
Maiana Coelho finished with 41 assists.
Defensively, the Spartans had four players with 10+ digs led by libero
Kaylee Hanger (15),
Emma Lattimore (14),
Maria Hanusik (11), and
Natalie Edson (10).
As the AMC's regular-season champion, MBU earned an automatic bid to the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship Opening Round and is likely to host one of 24 Opening Round matches. The Spartans will learn their draw and the Opening Round schedule on Monday, Nov. 13 at 2 p.m. CST on the
NAIA's YouTube Channel.
