Second day's a charm for Cougar Volleyball
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Sioux City, Iowa – After dropping the opening set, the Cougars came from behind to defeat the Lady Chaps from Lubbock Christian (Texas) University 3-1 in the 2009 NAIA Volleyball National Championships. The Cougars, ranked No. 7 in the tournament, improve to 38-3 on the year. The Chaps, ranked 20th, fall to 27-7 on the season.
The Cougars defeated Lubbock Christian 28-30, 25-23, 25-17 and 25-22. In set one the Cougars and Lady Chaps were tied 16 times throughout the 30 point contest. Lubbock had their chance to close out set one when they were up 24-23 but missed a serve. The teams were tied again at 26 and 28 before Lubbock Christian closed it out with a kill from the outside and a block.
In set two Columbia held the lead early but had to come from behind after being down 18-12. The Cougars came all the way back to tie the set up at 19 before closing it out 25-23. Set three belonged to the Cougars as they jumped out to a 3-1 lead and never looked back. Looking to close out the match in four, Columbia tried to put the Lady Chaps away early with a 23-14 lead, but laid off a little early as Lubbock Christian work their way up to 19 points before Columbia was able to get their 24th point on an LCU attack error. Two Lady Chap kills and a Cougar error later and Columbia found themselves in jeopardy once again. However, Monica Santos pulled through for the Cougars and pounded down the kill to close out the match.
Santos finished with a match high 18 kills for Columbia. Maria Omondi had 15 kills in 26 attempts. Nicole Murphy and Cate Eckhardt each ended with 10 kills. Setter Paula Ferreira dished out 55 assists, put down six kills and had 18 digs. Murphy’s four blocks and five service aces gave the Cougars the boast they needed to close out the match. Tally Mattos finished with 29 digs.
The Cougars close out pool play on Thursday, December 3rd at 3:15 p.m. when they face sixth seeded Georgetown (Ky.) College. Columbia needs to win tomorrow’s match-up to advance to bracket play on Friday. The Tigers of Georgetown are 1-1 in the pool after defeating Lubbock Christian and falling to Lee University just like Columbia.