Columbia, Mo. The Central Methodist University Lady Eagles volleyball team began play on Friday at the Stephens College Tournament in Columbia, Missouri. CMU defeated the hosts' Stephens College 3-0 in their first match, and came back to defeat Johnson & Wales University 3-2 in their second match of the day.
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With the victories, the Lady Eagles improve to 22-6 overall, with another pair of non-conference matches to come on Saturday.
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"We played pretty good against Stephens College, and then we came out flat against Johnson & Wales," said CMU head coach Allison Jones-Olson. "It was nice to see us playing from behind and working as a team to comeback in that second match. We haven't felt that joy for a while like that, and I think a win like that was good for us."
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In the first match on Friday afternoon, the Lady Eagles were matched up with Stephens College for the second time this season. CMU defeated Stephens College in Fayette 3-0 back on October 2^nd. This time in Columbia, it was a similar result with more intensity. In the first set, Stephens battled throughout with Central Methodist. The Lady Eagles were able to get some crucial points down the stretch to take the 25-21 victory.
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Central Methodist controlled the second and third set and ran away with 25-14 and 25-14 victories to take the match 3-0. In the win, Darcy Latham led Central Methodist with 12 kills. Savvy Hughes had a team high 20 assists, and Erin Dodd led the team with 11 digs.
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The second match of the day, proved to be a tougher test for CMU against Johnson & Wales University out of Denver, Colorado.
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The Wildcats owned the Lady Eagles in the first two sets, as Johnson & Wales won 28-26 and 25-17.
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With their backs against the wall, Central Methodist turn things around to win the next three sets 25-18, 25-14, and 15-7; to take the match 3-2. After hitting below .200 in the first two sets, CMU finished the final three sets with hitting percentages of .412, .314, and .412.
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In the win, the Lady Eagles were led by Madison Bond who had 15 kills. Lindsay Smith and Marina Alves both finished with 14 kills apiece. Savvy Hughes led the team with 26 assists and Erin Dodd led the team with 26 digs. �
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Central Methodist closes out play in the Stephens College Tournament on Saturday with two more matches at 12 and 2pm against Central Christian College and Kansas Wesleyan College.
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For more information about Central Methodist University athletics, visit http://www.cmueagles.com. Follow CMU athletics on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cmathletics and on Twitter twitter.com/cmueagles.�