Box Score The IU Columbus volleyball team has had a great start to the season with an 11-1 record in non-conference play. Saturday was their first test in the River States Conference, and the Crimson Pride passed that test with flying colors, as they defeated host Kentucky Christian in three sets, 25-13, 25-14, 25-14.

The visitors set the tone early with their aggressive play. Behind four kills each from senior Cora Baker and sophomore Mika Salinas and four service aces the Crimson Pride cruised through the first set 25-13. This was not a perfect first set, however, as they did commit nine errors, keeping the Knights hopes alive.

The second set saw the Crimson Pride have six different players with kills. They also cut down their mistakes with only five errors in the set, leading to a 25-14 margin.

The Crimson Pride showed no signs of letting up on their opponent as they stayed with their attacking style in the third set. Fifteen kills ( four by Journee Brown) by seven different players showed off the depth of this team.

Baker led the way with 12 kills; Salinas added nine kills while Kilani Jackson added seven. Sadie Egan had 21 assists and Bailey Stevens added 13. Defensively, Alyvia Luce led the way with 14 digs; Baker and Egan each added five digs.

Coach Jose Olivo: "I thought this was a really complete team win for us. Kentucky Christian challenged us early in each set, and I was pleased with how we responded and then created separation. Our serving put them under a lot of pressure, our block became more effective as the match went on, and offensively we were able to get contributions from a lot of different people. One thing I really liked was our composure during our scoring runs. Even after their timeouts, we stayed aggressive and continued to execute instead of letting them break our momentum.

I also thought our depth showed today. We had a lot of different players come in and contribute, and we didn't see a significant drop in the way we were playing. That's important for us because we're going to need everybody as we get deeper into conference play. Overall, I'm happy with the way we competed, but there are still things we can clean up and continue getting better at."

Next on the schedule: The Crimson Pride continue conference play as they host Brescia on Saturday, September 19th at CERA Sports Park at 1:00 pm