ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist University women's volleyball fell to No. 13 Oklahoma Wesleyan University 3-1 in the home opener on Wednesday afternoon. Despite 14 blocks up front, the Spartans lost 16-25, 25-10, 20-25, 16-25 to the visiting Eagles.
No. 13 Oklahoma Wesleyan Recap
The Spartans matched the Eagles point-for-point early in set one and a kill from Kassie Lee on one of Maiana Coehlo's eight assists in the set pulled the team within one point at 16-15. The reigning NAIA Freshman of the Year Evelyn Rohrberg took control from there, however, thrusting Oklahoma Wesleyan ahead with kills on three of the next five points. Four more errors from MBU handed the first set to OKWU 25-18.
The second set was all Missouri Baptist. Two kills from
Tayler Neal and two service aces from
Tiia Heikkinen had the Spartans ahead 5-0. They continued to ride the momentum with a loud MBU fan section behind them to a 14-3 lead and an eventual 25-10 set win. Neal tallied five kills in the frame while last week's American Midwest Conference Attacker of the Week
Elina Arsov tallied three.
After an impressive .440 hitting percentage in set two, the Spartans made eight errors with a .025 percentage in set three. Down 16-14, Arsov notched a kill off a feed from Coelho and followed with a service ace to tie things at 16-16. A Lee kill made it 18-17 before the Eagles went on an 8-2 run to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
With the end in sight, OKWU rode five team blocks and seven kills from Rohrberg to a 25-20 set four win and a 3-1 victory over No. 11 Missouri Baptist.
Spartan Stat Leaders
Kills: Tayler Neal (12)
Assists: Maiana Coelho (30)
Hitting %: Kassie Lee (.278)
Aces: Tiia Heikkinen (3)
Digs: Julia Pereira (18)
Blocks: Kassie Lee (9.0)
Records
No. 11 Missouri Baptist: 1-5
No. 13 Oklahoma Wesleyan: 3-0
Next Game
The Spartans are hitting the road again this weekend for the Viterbo University Invitational in La Crosse, Wis. The tournament opens on Friday, Aug. 23 with a matchup against No.12 Corban University at 1 p.m., followed by a 6 p.m., meeting with No. 6 Midland.
