COLUMBIA, S.C.— Montreat's women's volleyball team made the trip to Columbia International University for an afternoon Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) matchup. The Rams (25-2, 15-1 AAC) swept the Cavaliers for the second time this season. With the loss, the visitors moved to 7-6 (7-6 AAC) on the year. 
 
The Cavs played their second of three games in Columbia, S.C. as they will head back to Columbia College on Tuesday, Oct. 29 for another AAC match against the Koalas after just playing them yesterday. 
 
The match started in favor of the home team as the Rams jumped out to an 8-2 lead after a 6-0 run. After a Montreat timeout, the visitors became more competitive and cut the CIU lead to 18-14. The stretch was highlighted by Karly Horn with four kills, Elizabeth Harrington with three and Reese Davis with one of her own. This grit from the Cavs forced the Rams to take a timeout. Columbia International used the timeout to go on and win the first set by a score of 25-20. 
 
Frame two was much of the same as the previous with another Rams' lead doubling the Montreat score 10-5 early in the set. CIU scored nine of the next 13 points to go up 19-9 before a Cav timeout slowed the momentum. After the timeout, the Rams continued to roll as they concluded the set with a 4-0 run that featured three blocks to take the frame, 25-12. 
 
The home team again started out with the advantage as the Rams led 10-4. Montreat sparked some life into the set with a 5-0 run, its largest of the match. Kills from Davis and Maggie Stewart, as well as a Cate Hale service ace, forced a CIU timeout by cutting the gap to 10-9. A tight stretch of points then saw the Cavs tie the frame at 14. After breaking the tie, the Rams didn't look back and ran off with the rest of the set, winning it 25-18 to conclude the sweep.

"Our hard work came together today," said head coach Cristina Viera. "We played as a team and gave it our all. We're proud of the game we showed, despite the result."
 
Horn led the Cavs with nine kills, with four of them coming in the opening set. Harrington followed closely behind with eight kills and two blocks. Katie Alexander and Abby Allgood split the assist category with 14 and 10, respectively. Lexi Wible notched double-digit digs for the first time this season with a season-high 10 digs to pace the Cavaliers. 
 
CIU led Montreat in multiple statistical categories including kills (43-27), assists (38-26) and blocks (6-2). Montreat held a lead only twice in the match, both early in the second set at 1-0 and 4-3. 
 
The Cavs will head back to Columbia on Tuesday, Oct. 29 to face the Columbia College Koalas in another AAC matchup at 6:30p.m.