COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Ottawa University women's volleyball team turned in one of its strongest all-around performances of the season on Tuesday afternoon, sweeping Columbia College, 25-19, 25-16, 25-16.
Ottawa finished with 42 kills and hit .279 while holding the Cougars to a .043 attacking percentage.
Set One: Ottawa 25, Columbia 19
Ottawa came out firing, scoring the first four points of the match.
Madison Brauner recorded an ace before
Ciara Gray and
Campbell Stark followed with kills to give OU the early advantage. Columbia battled back and tied the set at 6-6, but the Braves answered with three straight points to regain control.
A kill by
Kira Cherry and a service ace from
Carson Schuman helped Ottawa extend its lead to 12-9. Schuman later helped push the advantage to 14-9 with another strong service run.
Columbia made a late push and trimmed Ottawa's advantage to 19-17, forcing an OU timeout. The Braves responded immediately.
Rilyn Conard stopped the run with a kill, and Ottawa outscored Columbia 6-2 the rest of the way. Schuman's second ace of the set gave OU set point, and Cherry followed with a kill to secure the 25-19 victory.
Ottawa hit .200 in the opening set with 11 kills.
Set Two: Ottawa 25, Columbia 16
The Braves quickly took control in the second, jumping out to a 5-1 lead behind kills from Gray and Stark and a block by Stark and Gray. Columbia pulled within 5-3 before Ottawa answered with three straight points, including a Stark kill, to make it 8-3.
With OU leading 10-6, the Braves put together another offensive surge. Cherry,
Bailee Nickel and
Tymerian Carrathus recorded kills during a three-point run that stretched the lead to 13-6.
After Columbia cut the lead to 13-9, Ottawa took complete control. Nickel stopped the Cougar run with a kill, and OU scored six straight points to build a 19-9 advantage. Cherry had back-to-back kills during the run.
Columbia made a brief push to get within 21-15, but Stark ended the threat with a kill. Gray gave Ottawa set point at 24-15 before Stark finished the set with another kill for the 25-16 victory.
The second was Ottawa's best offensive set of the match. The Braves finished with 19 kills and a .326 attacking percentage.
Set Three: Ottawa 25, Columbia 16
Ottawa opened the third with a Gray kill and eventually built a 4-1 advantage. Columbia answered and tied the score at 4-4, and the teams remained close through an 8-8 tie.
The Braves then began to create separation. A Columbia service error put OU back in front, and a Stark-Cherry block followed by a Stark kill gave Ottawa an 11-8 advantage. Nickel later recorded a kill to make it 13-10.
Ottawa led 16-12 before Columbia called timeout, but the stoppage did little to slow the Braves. Conard recorded a kill before three straight Columbia attacking errors stretched OU's advantage to 20-13.
Cherry helped slam the door from there. She recorded kills to give Ottawa leads of 21-14 and 22-14 before Stark made it 24-15. After Columbia fought off one match point, Cherry delivered the match-winning kill for the 25-16 victory and the sweep.
Ottawa hit .290 in the third while holding Columbia to a -.044 attacking percentage.
Inside the Box Score
- Kira Cherry led the Braves with 11 kills, hitting .375, and added five block assists.
- Campbell Stark also finished with 11 kills, hit .364 and recorded five block assists.
- Bailee Nickel had eight kills and 10 digs, while Ciara Gray finished with six kills and hit .333.
- Ottawa finished with 42 kills, 13 errors and a .279 attacking percentage, compared to Columbia's 29 kills, 24 errors and .043 hitting percentage.
- Makela Martinez led Ottawa with 17 assists, while Madison Brauner added 13 assists.
- Carson Schuman led all players with 15 digs and finished with two service aces.
- The Braves hit .200, .326 and .290 across the three sets and never allowed Columbia to hit better than .105 in a set.
Who is Next
Ottawa (3-6) will finish its Columbia trip with a match against Central Methodist University at 4:00 p.m.
