ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The No. 3-ranked Corban University Women's Volleyball team completed play at the 2025 MBU Spartan Invitational today in eastern Missouri earlier today, where the Warriors settled for a day two split against a pair of nationally ranked teams in No. 20-ranked Midland University and the tourney hosts Spartans of No. 19-ranked Missouri Baptist University. Corban dug deep to defeat their mascot doppelgangers in Midland via straight sets, while the host Spartans managed to complete the home court upset in a five-set marathon to conclude the annual tournament featuring some of the best volleyball programs the NAIA has to offer.
"I am proud of how we played against a very scrappy Midland team today," began Corban head coach Kim McLain. "Missouri Baptist played a great match and really put us on the defensive. Four tough matches in two days pushed our endurance and really tested us! Despite the challenges, the team gained valuable experience and is focused on using these early season lessons to fuel improvement moving forward."
Match 1 – No. 3 Corban 3, No. 20 Midland 0
In only their third ever matchup with their mascot twins in Midland (1-3) and representing the third-straight season they met in the non-conference slate, the Corban Warriors (3-1) rallied on multiple occasions to swiftly end all comeback bids attempted by the designated visiting team. The lone period where Midland was able to rally and force extra points came in the second set when they trailed 24-22 and fought off back-to-back set points, eventually trading the 25th points before an attacking error by Midland and a kill from senior opposite hitter Makayla Roginski put the three-set sweep back on the table for the Navy and Gold.
In the third and final set, Midland rattled off a 5-0 run to go up 20-17 and force a timeout from Coach McLain, yet seven of the next nine points scored would come on attacking errors thanks to Corban's stout defensive presence at the net, eventually resulting in a 25-21 set win for the Navy and Gold and clinching their second three-set sweep of the Midwest tourney.
Roginski continued her dominant week of work with another 11 kills to lead all players, falling just one dig shy of a double-double along with eight blocks defensively despite only playing half of all rotations. Senior middle blocker Gracie Boeder added eight kills with just a single error and six blocks, while junior outside hitter Kendra Bittle pitched in eight kills and seven digs.
Defensively in the backcourt, junior libero Kaile'a Ontai dug up a game-high 13 digs, while the assisting duo of senior Abby Guindy and junior Nadeiah Howard dealt out 24 and 11 assists, respectively, while digging up seven balls apiece.
In Midland's efforts, middle blocker Abby Spidle led her team with ten kills on a .471 kill percentage and swatted three blocks, yet accounting for almost a quarter of her team's total kills resulted in the lopsided victory for Corban. Setters Brena Mackling and Jaysa Wentzlaff dished out 17 and 14 assists, while libero Delainey Cast handled the backcourt with 11 digs.
Match 2 – No. 19 MBU 3, No. 3 Corban 2
The fourth top twenty matchup in a 30-hour window proved to be the straw that broke the Warriors' back, metaphorically, as the unforced errors on the attacking front while allowing 14 service aces to the Spartans (3-1) quickly turned against Corban's favor and resulted in their first loss of the 2025 season. Today's outcome was the first win MoBap has ever had against the Warriors, with the first two decisions concluding in four-set wins for Corban.
Every other set played out completely different than the rest, with the first falling in the Navy and Gold's favor after rallying from down early to take the final three points following a 22-all tie. The second set finished in nearly the total opposite fashion, with MoBap taking control midway through the period and ending the set on a 4-1 run.
Just like in the opening set, the Warriors and Spartans found themselves in a 22-22 draw in a must-win period for either program, but it was Missouri Baptist who was able to secure a pair of kills and force a rare attacking error by Roginski to edge out a 25-22 set win, needing just one more to complete the comeback upset.
However, the Warriors refused to go down quietly and were able to force a winner-take-all fifth set behind a 12-3 run that set the table for a tiebreaker in the final contest of the complete nationally ranked team tourney. While both teams were able to exchange early runs in the fifth, MoBap was able to take a hefty 10-6 lead due to a trio of Corban attacking/reception errors, and following the final timeout of the contest, the Spartans were able to trade points back-and-forth before three-straight hometown points sealed the Warriors' first regular season loss.
The physical exhaustion finally caught up for the Navy and Gold this afternoon, as they managed to outkill, out-assist, and nearly out-block and out-dig Missouri Baptist but struggled immensely in serve-receive. Junior outside hitter Emma Bischoff was the only Warrior with multiple service aces, yet both her and Ontai allowed five Spartan aces apiece to provide the tourney hosts with free points.
Once again, Roginski led the Navy and Gold in kills with 17 more to hit the 1,000-career kill mark just four games into the 2025 regular season. She wasn't the only Warrior to hit a career milestone, as Guindy dealt out her 2,000th assist earlier in the day and finished the five-setter against MoBap with another 28. Howard dished out 18 more assists, while Ontai led both sides in digs with 16. Bischoff earned her second double-double of the early season with 11 kills and 13 digs, with the middle blocking duo of Boeder and sophomore Addison Mills swatting seven and six blocks at the net.
A 37-combined kill effort for Spartan opposite hitters Gabi Jakubowska (21) and Allana Capella (16) was all the offense MBU needed thanks to the error-riddled Warriors, as Capella picked up a double-double with ten digs in the backcourt while Jakubowska settled for nine. Opposite hitter Fernanda Perini was on the defensive end of 11 block assists this afternoon, with all-around setter Valentina Navarro providing the offense with 46 assists, five digs, and three blocks. Outside hitter Madison Moore dug up 14 digs for Missouri Baptist.
The Corban women's volleyball team will return to action next Tuesday on the road against NCAA DII Western Oregon University (0-0), where the Warriors will battle the Wolves at 6:30pm just across the Willamette River in Monmouth.
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