SIOUX CITY, Iowa – A gutty defensive effort propelled the Vanguard women's volleyball team into the NAIA Women's Volleyball Championship quarterfinals as the Lions upended Missouri Baptist by scores of 25-20, 25-22, 25-22 at the Tyson Events Center on Friday afternoon.

The Lions captured Pool H with the victory in improving to 29-1 overall and extending their school record winning streak to 27 straight. The Spartans finished 1-1 in pool play and ended their season at 27-7.

VU joined the 2015 squad as quarterfinalists, representing the furthest the program has advanced in the national tournament.

Vanguard recorded 20 block assists and won the total team block battle 10.0 to 6.0. The Lions also held a 56-47 edge in digs and won a majority of the longer rallies in the match. The 20 block assists represented VU's second-highest single-match total this season, trailing only the 26 the team produced on August 19 at Southern Oregon.

Senior middle blocker Bailey Olbur led all players with six blocks, followed by four apiece from graduate outside hitter Callie Bickmore and freshman middle blocker Kayla Robinson. 

Three Lions finished with double figure digs, led by sophomore outside hitter Morgan Cole with 15. Libero Natalie Escher had 13 digs and defensive specialist Blair Dodge scooped up 12.

Offensively, the Lions hit only .173 for the match but held Missouri Baptist to .105 efficiency. Bickmore delivered a match-high tying nine kills on .318 hitting. Cole and Olbur collected seven kills each and sophomore Adeline Galvanoni had six.

Setters Madeline DeLucia and Rachel Lim posted 18 assists apiece. DeLucia was huge from the service line with four aces.

What Happened?

Set 1 – After trailing by three briefly in the early going, the Lions mounted a 5-1 run to grab a 7-6 lead, punctuated by a Cole-Robinson combo block on Sara Klunder.

The Lions and Spartans navigated four ties – the last at 9-9 – when Vanguard pushed forward by scoring seven of the next 10 points. Galvanoni had two kills and a block during the run as VU forced a Spartan timeout leading 16-12.

DeLucia served up back-to-back aces to help VU extend the lead to 21-14. The setter then landed a dump shot to get the Lions closer, and assisted on a Viktoria Dickson kill to cement the 25-20 victory. VU hit .222 (13-5-36) overall compared to a .175 mark for the Spartans.

Set 2 – VU forced an early Missouri Baptist timeout after a 3-0 mini run gave the Lions an early 4-2 lead. Cole and Robinson combined forces to reject Gabi Jakubowska, who was held to .143 hitting for the match as one of the main offensive weapons for the Spartans.

The Lions stretched the lead to 8-4 before the Spartans capitalized on a variety of VU errors to knot the score at 9-9. VU squelched the Spartan 5-1 run with three straight points of its own, leading 12-9 following a Dickson kill. Missouri Baptist took the next three points as a VU service error and two straight attack errors tied the score again at 12-12.

The Spartans committed three straight miscues and then allowed a Lim service ace to complete a 4-0 VU run, giving the Lions a 16-12 advantage. That gave the Blue and Gold the needed separation, as VU's lead never dipped below two. The Spartans got to within 22-20, but kills from Olbur and Dickson set up set point at 24-21. Bickmore nailed one to the floor to secure the 25-22 triumph.

VU struggled to a .047 hitting percentage with an uncharacteristic 11 attack errors. However, the Spartans could not penetrate VU's defense, managing to hit just .024 (8-7-42).

Set 3 – Having been swept just two times all season, Missouri Baptist was not about to give up and led by two points on three separate occasions. Leading 7-5, the Spartans relented as the Lions embarked on a 6-1 run to force a timeout at 11-8. Olbur combined with Dickson to deny Kirsten van Der Vleu, and the Las Vegas native pounded a kill on the next play to help the VU cause.

The two teams traded points for a stretch until the Spartans crept to within 15-14 on a Jakubowska ace. The Lions played cat-and-mouse for the next several points, extending the lead to 20-17 on a Galvanoni slam. 

The Spartans were not finished and trimmed the deficit to 21-20, 22-21 and 23-22 in a desperate push to catch the Lions. But Jakubowska committed a huge service error to get VU to match point, and Emma Lattimore's attempt went wide as the Lions celebrated the hard fought victory.

Why Is It Important?: The Lions committed just three service errors – tied for the second-fewest in a match this season – after combining for 28 service miscues over the previous three contests.

What Was Said?: "I'm incredibly thrilled for our girls," said Head Coach Jennifer Dorn. "We executed our game plan perfectly and kept the pressure on. It was such a well rounded match. Our defense was so tenacious, that it deflated our opponent and left them without options. Natalie and Blair had some incredible tandem defensive plays which kept us in the rallies. Just a great showing and fills us with confidence as we go into No. 1 Northwestern tomorrow."

What's Next?: The Lions meet the winner of Pool A, top-seeded Northwestern (Iowa), in a quarterfinal matchup on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. (PT).