Cougars falter in first day of pool play
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Sioux City, Iowa – The Columbia Cougar volleyball team did not get off to the national tournament start that they were looking for, falling to 19th ranked Lee (Tenn.) University on the first day 3-0. The Cougars, making their 16th straight trip to the NAIA Volleyball National Championships, fall to 37-3 on the season in the 25-18, 25-14 and 25-22 loss. Today’s loss marks the first time Columbia has been swept all season, as their two losses in the regular season came on 3-2 decisions.
The Lady Flames from Lee, making their eighth appearance in the national playoff, improve to 34-5 on the season.
Columbia held just one lead in the match, coming in the third set at 4-3. In the first and second sets Lee dominated the Cougars, jumping out to 5-0 leads and pushing to 10 and 11 point advantages midway through each set. Columbia never found their grove, hitting just 0.070 for the match and combining for 35 kills. Columbia logged nine service errors and 26 hitting errors and did not post a single block for the match.
Nicole Murphy’s 10 kills led the Cougars. Paula Ferreira dished out 28 assists, while Tally Mattos and Monica Santos combined for 33 of Columbia’s 53 digs.
The Cougars return to pool play action tomorrow in the 2009 NAIA Volleyball National Championships. Columbia will face No. 20 ranked Lubbock Christian (Texas) University at 3:15 p.m. Catch live audio for the match on www.columbiacougars.com.