Women's Volleyball Tops Stephens & Baptist Bible at Home

Marshall, Mo., (Sept. 30, 2023)- The Missouri Valley College women's volleyball team hosted a non-conference triangular Saturday afternoon inside the Burns Athletic Complex.  The Vikings opened with a four game win over Stephens (Mo.), followed by a sweep of Baptist Bible (Mo.).

In the opening game against Stephens, the Vikings gradually built up an early lead.  Junior Setter Lynsey Day (Kingman, Ariz.) started things off with an ace, followed by one kill each from Junior Middle Blocker Jisell Chumacero (Greeley, Colo.) and Junior Outside Hitter Juliana Oliviera (Ribeirao Preto, Brazil).  The team won seven of eight points during a stretch of play that included three kills from Sophomore Middle Blocker Nekane Parera (Barcelona, Spain) to sit in front 12-4.  Another run that saw MVC win six of seven points included two aces from Senior Libero Jeanie Palsis (Nanakuli, Hawaii), one kill from Chumacero and Day and a block from Day and Chumacero to help the team hold an 18-5 advantage.  The two teams traded points over the next stretch of play.  Missouri Valley received a late ace from Junior Outside Hitter Maria Bertholdo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) to reach game-point, and MVC eventually won the game, 25-13.  Stephens was held to a .000 hitting percentage.

Missouri Valley won five-straight points at the start of the second game, which included one kill from both Chumacero and Oliviera, along with an ace from Senior Outside Hitter Ksenija Simun (Kotor, Montenegro) to move in front, 5-2.  The two teams traded the next several points.  The Vikings won five of six points midway through the game, helped by one kill from Chumacero and another ace from Simun to hold a 15-9 advantage.  The score sat at 17-11 after a block from Junior Middle Blocker Emma Schulte (Marshall, Mo.), but Stephens began to control the game from there.  The Stars won five of the next six points to close the gap to 18-16, then tied the score at 19-19.  Missouri Valley briefly went in front, 20-19, but Stephens again went on a run, winning four of the next five points to hold a 23-21 advantage.  The gap for MVC was cut to 23-22, but the Stars held off a late rally to win, 25-22, and even the match at 1-1 in games won.

Another early run for Missouri Valley started game three off, as Schulte put down two kills and Simun added one kill to give the team a 5-1 lead.  Stephens worked back to an 8-7 deficit, while the Vikings followed by widening the advantage.  Parera, Day and Oliviera each had one kill to make it a 13-7 score.  Another five-straight points, featuring one kill from Oliviera, Simun and Schulte helped make it a 19-10 lead.  The Vikings stayed on top from there, as Bertholdo put down one kill and Palsis added an ace.  Parera finished off three kills late in the game to secure a 25-16 win, and move the team to a 2-1 advantage in the match.  Missouri Valley hit at a match-high .410 percentage in the game.

Stephens got out in front in the fourth game, building up a 9-5 advantage.  Missouri Valley bounced back with six of the next seven points, as Schulte and Oliviera teamed up on a block, while Schulte, Bertholdo and Oliviera finished off one kill apiece to bring the team on top, 11-10.  The two teams traded points through the next stretch of play, as a kill from Oliviera kept MVC ahead, 18-17.  Stephens tied the score at 18-18, then at 20-20.  Three-straight kills came from Bertholdo, Schulte and Simun to break the tie, and give the Vikings a 23-20 advantage.  Bertholdo landed one more kill to make it match-point, and Simun ended the contest with one more kill to give Missouri Valley a 25-22 win in the game to take the match.

Parera led with 12 kills, tying a career-high on a .391 percentage.  Oliviera added a double-double of 10 kills and 10 digs.  Simun had seven kills and 10 digs.  Day totaled a double-double of 40 assists and 12 digs, while Palsis had 13 digs.  Missouri Valley finished with four blocks and eight aces as a team.

The first game against Baptist Bible started with Missouri Valley taking seven of the opening eight points.  Simun put down two kills, while Schulte and Bertholdo added one kill each during the stretch, to go with an ace from Defensive Specialist Ana Franco to put the team ahead, 7-1.  The Vikings then won six-straight points, featuring two more kills from Simun, one kill from both Parera and Bertholdo and a block from Parera and Simun to open a 13-2 lead.  The two teams traded points over the next stretch of play.  Oliviera and Bertholdo added on kill each, and Freshman Setter Paige Siebert (Festus, Mo.) landed an ace to help the team win three-in-a-row and hold a 19-10 advantage.  The final three points of the game all came on kills, with one each from Junior Outside Hitter Beartiz Bartolome Kateb (Madrid, Spain), Parera and Simun to close out a 25-12 win.

The Vikings won the first three points of the second game, helped by a block from Oliviera and Schulte.  One kill from both Schulte and Simun followed as MVC stayed on top, 6-2.  Baptist Bible worked back, and sat in an 11-10 deficit, before Missouri Valley began to pull away.  Bartolome Kateb finished off a kill and added a solo block, while Junior Middle Blocker Esther Muhingira (Nairobi, Kenya) and Schulte teamed up on a block to win three-straight points.  Bartolome and Schulte then added back-to-back kills and the advantage sat at 16-11.  Later in the game, Parera put down one kill, then followed with an ace.  A Baptist Bible error moved MVC to game-point, and Bartolome finished out a 25-16 win with one more kill to give the Vikings a 2-0 edge in games won.  Baptist Bible was kept to a -.172 hitting percentage in the game.

Baptist Bible started the third game with an early lead, at 6-5.  Bartolome Kateb put down two-straight kills, while Parera added one kill and Simun an ace to put MVC in front, 9-6.  The lead grew from there, helped by a kill from Sophomore Setter Ana Carolina Santos (Curitiba, Brazil), who then teamed up with Schulte on a block.  Bartolome Kateb came up with two more kills, while Schulte finished off one kill and a block with Muhingira.  Franco added an ace, and the advantage was 17-10.  Baptist Bible worked down its deficit to 22-19 late in the game.  However, Schulte ended the contest with a kill to reach match-point, then a block to finish off the sweep with a 25-19 win in the third game.

Simun led with 12 kills to go with nine digs.  Bartolome Kateb added nine kills, while Parera had seven kills.  Schulte came up with six kills and four blocks.  Siebert led with 22 assists, and added six digs, while Carolina Santos had 11 assists.  Palsis led with 16 digs.  Missouri Valley totaled 11 total blocks and six aces in the match.

Missouri Valley improves to 10-11 on the season with the two victories.

Up next, the Viking women's volleyball team hosts Baker (Kan.) in a Heart of America Athletic Conference match, Tuesday at 7 p.m., inside the Burns Athletic Complex.

Stephens Box Score-Click Here

Baptist Bible Box Score-Click Here

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.