Bolivar, Mo. – The Southwest Baptist University women's volleyball team began a four game break from conference play with a sweep over Mission University on Tuesday. The win brings the Bearcats to a 5-12 record this season.
 
The first set started as a close match with the teams evenly splitting the first 28 points of the game. Then, the team in purple started to pull away with a 6-2 run featuring kills from four different Bearcats. Mission fought back to bring their score within two of SBU, but Southwest Baptist scored the final four points of the set to win it 25-19. 
 
Determined to not let the second set end as the first did, the Patriots came out in the second set by taking an early 3-6 lead. The Bearcats were able to remain within reach, however, until SBU scored seven unanswered points to go ahead 21-13. This seven point run included two service aces from freshman Allie Hawk. Mission was able to gain a couple points back, but a service ace from freshman Gabriela Dupree and three attack errors by the Patriots ended the second set 25-15 in favor of the Bearcats.
 
SBU continued their dominance in the third set. The Lady Bearcats never trailed as they cruised to another 25-15 set victory. Junior Hannah Jackson recorded eight kills in the set, recording her season high in kills in a single set. Freshman Julia Marinesi also had an impressive third set with five kills and a service ace.
 
Jackson's eight kills in the third set helped her become SBU's leader in kills on the night with 13. She also recorded a stellar hitting percentage of .632. Senior Katie Pogue put in an impressive performance as well with 25 assists. This number is good enough for the second most assists in a single game by an SBU athlete this season and only falls short of Pogue's 26 assists against Harding on September 12. Other notable athletes for SBU were Marinesi (10 kills, 3 service aces, 9 digs) and freshman Chloe Chafins (13 digs, 2 service aces).
 
The Lady Bearcats return to action this weekend at the Midwest Region Crossover in Hammond, Indiana. Their first game is on Friday, October 17 at 9:00am against Kentucky Wesleyan College (1-13). Their double header continues with another game against Lake Erie College (7-10) at 4:30pm before wrapping up the crossover on Saturday morning.