MONTREAT, N.C.— Inside McAlister Gymnasium Saturday morning, the Montreat volleyball team squared off against the Columbia International University Rams, a team receiving votes in the latest version of the NAIA Women's Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. Despite forcing extra points in the third set, the Cavaliers dropped the match by a score of 3-0, moving to 9-10 (6-10 AAC) on the year.
 
Columbia International (25-1, 16-1 AAC) started the match on fire, collecting 10 of the initial 11 points to lead 10-1. Five CIU blocks, three aces and seven Cavalier attack errors allowed the visitors to expand their advantage out to as many as 12 in the opening frame. Although Lexi Wible collected 10 digs and Abby Maldonado notched a service ace, the Cavs fell 25-15 in the first.
 
Montreat jumped out to a 5-3 edge in the second set, utilizing a pair of Ram attack errors in addition to kills from Kamryn Wolf and Katie Dickey and another ace from Maldonado to do so. CIU then used a 7-2 stretch to go up 10-7 and hold a lead it wouldn't relinquish for the rest of the frame. The visitors tallied their most effective hitting set of the competition (.292) en route to a second 25-15 scoreline.
 
Columbia International grabbed five of the opening six points to lead 5-1 before a powerful block extended the run to 11-3 behind five CIU stuffs at the net. Though the Cavaliers trailed by eight, they battled back in the set. Down 19-12, multiple kills from Dickey and Wolf in addition to a pair of aces from Reese Davis fueled a 12-3 stretch that knotted the score at 22. While the Cavs tied the game at 23 and 24 and fought off one match point, three of 15 kills from the Rams in the set sealed their 15^th conference sweep of the season with a 26-24 victory.
 
"Our defense did a good job getting balls up to where we had solid attack attempts against one of the best teams in the conference. CIU blocked better than we did, but we did a good job finding spots for kills. Ultimately, they were the better team today and we look forward to next week," noted head coach Brittany Carpenter.
 
Individually, Wolf paced the team in both kills (12) and digs (19) thanks to a 5-kill, 15-dig third frame to tie her career-best dig performance. Dickey also ended in double-digits with 10 kills, while Wible concluded with 18 digs. Davis (16) and Katie Alexander (12) both concluded with at least 12 assists. Overall, the Rams led in kills (39-34), hitting percentage (.230 to .097), aces (7-5), digs (59-52) and blocks (12.0-3.0).
 
Volleyball faces the other conference opponent from Columbia, S.C. on the road on Tuesday looking to bounce back. The Cavaliers battle with the Koalas of Columbia College (S.C.) at 6:30 p.m.