ST. LOUIS – The No. 7 Missouri Baptist University women's volleyball team finished its week with road wins to cap off a month-long stretch of matches away from the Petty SRC. On Thursday, the Spartans claimed a 3-1 win over the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy and then trekked to Lawrence, Kan., on Saturday for a quick 3-0 rout of Haskell Indian Nations.
 
Now, winners of its last four contests, MBU improved to 12-2 and 2-0 early in American Midwest Conference play. Next Saturday will mark the Spartans' second home match all season as they host back-to-back conference foes in Cottey College (Sept. 30) and Harris-Stowe State (Oct. 3).
 
(7) Missouri Baptist def. UHSP, 3-1 [25-14, 25-14, 24-26, 25-9]
At UHSP, MoBap opened the match with a below-average performance offensively, hitting just .125% in Set One. The Spartans' work at the service line (4 aces) and defensively carried the load in a 25-14 set win. MBU held Health Sciences & Pharmacy without a kill in the opening set (-.273%).
 
Missouri Baptist arrived at the successive 25-14 set win in a much different manner. Getting three attack errors out of their system early, the seventh-ranked Spartans went on a tear, putting down 16 kills over their next 17 attack attempts. They finished the frame with a red-hot .650 hitting percentage. Sophomore Gabi Jakubowska was the primary target for setter Sidney Hogan, hammering home nine kills in the second stanza.
 
The third set was a forgettable one for the Spartans as a commanding 20-9 lead withered away, point after point. UHSP caught fire on an 11-2 run to bring the game within two at 22-20. The Eutectics strung together another 6-2 run to steal just their second set from the Spartans in the last 16 meetings. Errors all around doomed MBU, which hit just .079% in the 26-24 Set 3 loss.
 
Head coach Chris Nichols' squad didn't make the same mistake twice. After racing out to a 15-3 advantage early in Set Four, the Spartans kept their foot on the gas for a comfortable 25-9 win to close the match. The fourth set also had potent offense as MBU hit .556% with 16 kills and just one attack error.
 
The Polish pair of Gabi Jakubowska and Maria Hanusik led the Spartans with 17 kills and 11 kills, respectively. The latter came up one dig shy of recording a double-double.
 
At the service line, libero Kaylee Hanger and setter Sidney Hogan combined for seven of the team's 13 aces. Hanger also led the Spartans in digs (10), while Hogan split setting duties with Maiana Coelho. Hogan and Coelho finished with 24 and 25 assists, respectively.
 
(7) Missouri Baptist def. Haskell Indian Nations, 3-0 [25-11, 25-14, 25-12]
Saturday was smooth sailing for Missouri Baptist as the Spartans picked up their fifth sweep of 2023 and never trailed at Haskell.
 
An early 9-0 run increased the advantage to 13-2. The usual suspects – Gabi Jakubowska and Sara Klunder – took care of business and combined for 11 of the 15 kills in a 25-11 opening-set victory.
 
Klunder added five more kills in Set Two and was joined by fellow middle Syan Larmond, who pitched in three kills and a solo block. The Spartans were too much to handle for the Fightin' Indians, who failed to stay above .000% in the second set, hitting -.074%.
 
No. 7 MBU saved its best for last, hitting a match-best .462 in the final set. Setter Sidney Hogan jumpstarted the set with a 5-0 lead and a pair of aces from the service line. Six different Spartans registered a kill in the set, including Klunder, who reached five kills for the third set in a row. She finished the match with a team-best 15.
 
Gabi Jakubowska contributed eight kills in two sets of action, while Syan Larmond notched an MBU career-high five kills at Haskell.
 
Other stat leaders on the day included Sidney Hogan (24 A, 2 SA) and Kaylee Hanger (14 D, 2 SA).