MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The No. 8-ranked Missouri Baptist University women's volleyball team rallied to defeat (RV) St. Thomas University in five on Thursday evening to open the 2023 campaign. In a down-to-the-wire finish in all but one set, the Spartans edged the Bobcats, 26-24, 22-25, 23-25, 25-13, 15-11.
 
Thursday's victory marks the third straight year that MBU has kicked off the season with a win in Florida and the second in a row over STU.
 
Trailing by as much as four in the first set, the Spartans performed best with their backs against the wall. Down 22-18, the Spartans went on a 4-0 run to tie the game and squeaked out the first-set win behind Sara Klunder and Gabi Jakubowska down the stretch. Klunder, a 2022 NAIA First Team All-American, recorded a team-high seven kills in Set 1 with two coming in the last three points of the 26-24 win.
 
Klunder was quieted down in the following set with just one kill and a pair of block assists. Instead, the Spartans got more production from outside hitters Maria Hanusik (4) and Drury University transfer Tayler Neal (3), along with Jakubowska (3). MBU matched the Bobcats kill-for-kill in the set, but it ultimately came down to unforced errors, and the home team had four fewer attack errors than the Spartans. St. Thomas went on to win the set, 25-22.
 
Set Three was filled with large momentum swings. Despite MBU reaching 20 first and holding a 20-16 lead, the Bobcats were the beneficiaries of the final swing. STU finished the third set on a 9-3 run to win 25-23 and take a 2-1 lead in the match. Spartan highlights in the third set included three service aces by Maria Hanusik, and a combined nine kills from Gabi Jakubowska and Emma Lattimore, who switched out of the libero uni after Set Two.
 
Lattimore continued her strong play on the outside pacing the Spartans in Set Four with five kills. Aside from an early 3-1 start out of the gate for St. Thomas, No. 8 Missouri Baptist put on a clinic in the fourth set. The Spartans held the Bobcats to a -.048 hitting percentage and coasted to a 25-13 win forcing a tiebreaker set.
 
MBU scored four straight point to open the fifth including a pair of kills from Maria Hanusik. The Bobcats answered drawing within one (8-7), however, MoBap kicked it into overdrive with five straight points and a clutch 6-1 run. Newcomer Maiana Coelho played an integral role in the late stretch providing a pair kills, a block and an assist from the setter position. The Spartans were the first to 15 wrapping up the five-set win with a Tayler Neal kill at 15-11.
 
Offensively, Gabi Jakubowska (16), Sara Klunder (12), and Emma Lattimore (10), all finished with 10+ kills and hit above .200%. Setter Maiana Coelho directed the offense with 48 assists in the win. Maria Hanusik picked up where she left off last year with a match-best five aces. The Tychy, Poland senior finished 2022 in the Top 10 of the NAIA in service aces/set.
 
Defensively on Thursday, five Spartans had double-digit digs. Hanusik led the way with 20, followed by Coelho (18), Lattimore (16), Luiza Arsufi (15), and Natalie Edson (14). At the net, Sara Klunder led the Spartans with seven blocks (1 S, 6 A) followed by Gabi Jakubowska with 4 (1 S, 3 A) and Coelho (3).
 
Up next in MBU's Florida trip is the Vipers Sports Academy Classic hosted by Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Fla. On Friday, the Spartans will play another Top-40 team in (RV) Campbellsville University at 2:00 PM (ET) and Ave Maria University at 6:00 PM (ET).