Sept. 2, 2003
Truman Volleyball Wins Home Opener With 3-1 Victory Over Columbia College
The Bulldog volleyball team (5-0), which earlier in the day moved up to No. 3 in the national poll, won their home opener on Tuesday night with a 30-18, 28-30, 30-19, 30-27 win over Columbia College (3-2), ranked No. 5 in the NAIA national preseason poll.
Freshman Sarah Shearman continued her impressive play with 19 kills and Jessica Sears returned from an injury and poured in 18 kills and 22 digs. Tiffany Graham had 10 kills and Megan Remley had nine in just three games. Annie Nickolai and Remley both had six blocks and Rachael Shedd had 50 assists in the victory. Libero Ashley Patey recorded a career-high 19 digs.
Jacqueline Makokha led the Cougars with 18 kills followed by Sandra Gomez-Botero with 14. Both of those players were also in double-figure digs and Katherin Weisenborn had 36 assists.
Truman jumped out early in game one and had a lead as big as nine at 21-12 and cruised to a victory after scoring six of the final eight points. In game two, Truman again jumped in front, leading 20-13. However, the Cougars scored six straight at that point and eventually took the lead for good at 28-27. That was the only game that Columbia hit over .200 as they had a .311 mark for that game.
The Bulldogs regained control of the match in the third game after scoring the first eight points and eventually leading by as much as 15 points before winning 30-19. In the final game, it was the Cougars who jumped out early, leading 17-12 midway through the game. Strong serving by the Bulldogs Lauren Dickbernd got them back into the match as the Bulldogs scored six straight to take the lead. The lead would change hands four times the rest of the way, but, with the score tied at 27, Truman scored three straight points to win the match.
Truman will be in action again on Friday at the Division II Premier Challenge in Denver, Colo. The Bulldogs will face Mesa State (Colo.) and No. 9 West Texas A&M in pool play.