Dec. 3, 2005

Missouri Baptist Wins Quarterfinal in Five at NAIA Volleyball National Championship

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Fifth-seeded Missouri Baptist University is making the most of its second trip to the NAIA Volleyball National Tournament, besting National American University (S.D.) in five games (30-25, 32-34, 23-30, 30-26, 15-9) to advance to the semifinals on Saturday. Hosted by Point Loma Nazarene University, the tournament is being played on campus in Golden Gymnasium November 30 - December 3

The Spartans picked up the first game before dropping the next two to fall behind.  Behind the play of Ana Mercado, MBU rallied to win the next two games by a total of just 10 points. Mercado recorded 33 kills, 14 digs and six serving aces in the win.  Kim Ramsay added 11 kills of her own as the team hit .229.  This is the first trip back to the tournament since MBU qualified in 2002, when the team never made it out of pool play.

Leslie Da Silva also recorded 33 kills in the losing effort for National American.  Daniela Oliveira added 27, giving Ana Paula Matarazzo 55 assists in the match. National American concludes the 2005 campaign with an overall record of 40-3.

Missouri Baptist now sports a 38-6 record and will face No. 7 Columbia College (Mo.) at 12:30 p.m. (Pacific) on December 3 in a semifinal match. Columbia (38-4) eliminated Houston Baptist University (Texas), 3-2, in its quarterfinal match.

 Box Score