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Spectacular Season Ends For Lady Rams COLUMBIA, Mo.-- The University of Mobile volleyball team saw its dream season come to an end at the NAIA National Tournament Friday morning when the Lady Rams dropped a 1-game playoff to Campbellsville 30-19. Campbellsville will move on to face Columbia in another 1-game playoff to determine the 10th member of the single-elimination bracket. For a program in only its 3rd year of competition, the Lady Rams made tremendous strides in solidifying themselves as a force to be reckoned with on the national stage. Mobile finishes the season 36-7. The Lady Rams put up solid performances in their pool, despite having to battle #4 Biola (Calif), #6 Columbia (Mo.) and #24 Campbellsville (Ky.). Mobile earned the Regular Season Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championship and won the Region XIII Tournament. The Lady Rams spent a large part of the season receiving votes in the NAIA Top-25, but could not crack the top-25 despite continuing to win matches.
COLUMBIA, Mo.-- The University of Mobile volleyball team faced a must-win situation against #24 Campbellsville University (Ky.) in the final match of pool play at the NAIA National Tournament, and the Lady Rams responded in a big way, winning 3-0 (30-22, 31-29, 30-24). The win puts Mobile, Campbellsville, and Columbia in a 3-way tie to be the second team that will advance out of Mobile's pool to the single-elimination bracket which begins Friday. Columbia won the most games out of the three teams, so they get a bye in the mini-playoff. Mobile and Campbellsville will play 1 game to 30 points at 9:00 am and then the winner of that battle will play Columbia College in 1 game to 30 points at 9:30 am to determine who makes the final 10. Whomever advances, will battle Northwestern (Iowa) at 10:30 am. Northwestern went 2-1 in Pool A. To force the playoff, the Lady Rams racked up 12.5 total blocks to control the match. Mobile was led on offense by Syretta Baldwin with 20 kills and Whitney Knight with 13. Nicole Stokes picked up 19 assists, Tasha Buchanan had 13 assists, and Amber Presnell led the way with 16 digs. Cassy Johnson led the team with 4.5 blocks. Mobile is 36-7 on the season. Mobile Drops Match to #6 Columbia College COLUMBIA, Mo.-- Another top-10 opponent equaled another loss for the University of Mobile volleyball team at the NAIA National Tournament, as the Lady Rams fell 3-0 (30-27, 30-26, 30-26) to Columbia College. Most statistics indicate that the match was close throughout, as the Lady Rams actually finished with a better hitting percentage, more blocks and more kills. But, Columbia picked up a big advantage with a 14-4 edge in service aces. That difference of 10 aces is big when the 3 games were decided by a total of 11 points. The loss should not overshadow some great individual efforts from Mobile. Syretta Baldwin hit a remarkable .545 on her way to picking up 13 kills, while Whitney Knight finished with 15 kills and 3.5 blocks for the Lady Rams. Paula Stilkey finished with 11 kills and 4 block assists. Mobile will wrap up pool play when they take on #24 Campbellsville (Ky.) tonight at 8:15 pm. The Lady Rams move to 35-7 on the season. Lady Rams Fall In Opener at Nationals COLUMBIA, Mo.—The University of Mobile volleyball team dropped its opening match at the 2007 NAIA National Tournament, as the 4th-ranked Biola University Lady Eagles out-hit Mobile .376 to .154 on their way to the 3-0 (30-23, 30-16, 30-23) victory. In the first game of the match, the Lady Rams took an early 13-9 lead after a pair of errors by Biola sandwiched a Paula Stilkey kill. Unfortunately for Mobile, Biola went on a quick 6-1 run to take their first lead and never looked back. The Lady Rams were able to fight back within 3 points late, 23-26, but 4th-ranked Biola finished the game with a 4-0 run thanks to a trio of attack errors by the Lady Rams. Game 2 was not as kind to Mobile as the Lady Eagles jumped out to a 7-1 lead and cruised to the finish line, as the Lady Rams could not get any closer than 4 in the game. The final game was much like the first. The two teams jostled back and forth all the way until Biola held a late 21-20 lead. From there, the Lady Eagles used 6 kills and 2 aces to finish off the sweep on the opening day of pool play. The 20-team field is divided into five pools of four teams, and the top two teams from each pool advance to a single-elimination bracket. With that in mind, a team can lose and still advance. But, the road will be tough for Mobile, as the Lady Rams will face #6 Columbia College at 1:30 pm on Thursday, November 29th and then battle #24 Campbellsville at 8:15 pm on the same day. Paula Stilkey and Whitney Knight led the way with 10 kills for the Lady Rams, while Nicole Stokes picked up 21 assists. Amber Presnell led the team with 11 digs.
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