SIOUX CITY, Iowa – [BOX SCORE | BRACKET] Missouri Baptist won the 2021 NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Championship in five sets over Park (Mo.) in the Tyson Events Center on Saturday night. 

Missouri Baptist and Park (Mo.) have not played each other in the last two years since Park moved from the American Midwest Conference to the Heart of America Athletic Conference.

Prior to that, the teams had a rich history of playing each other as conference opponents with 21 total competitions since 2009.

Heading into the championship match, the Pirates led the way with 12 wins over the Spartan's nine. The last time the Spartans won against Park was in 2015, which was the season after the Pirates won their first title. Park has won the last six times the teams have met.

The Pirates won their second title in 2018 just prior to joining the Heart of America Athletic Conference.

Fast forward to the 2021 season, the Spartans opened the season at No. 1 as the defending national champions after winning their first title in April of 2021. The Pirates opened the season at No. 4.

After both teams suffered losses to Midland (Neb.) and Viterbo (Wis.) early in the season the teams dropped to No. 4 and No. 6 respectively. Missouri Baptist and Park both remained undefeated through the remainder of the regular season and worked their way up to No. 3 and No. 4 respectively.  

The parity continued for the two teams as the Pirates and the Spartans became their respective conference regular-season champions and also won their respective conference tournament championships.

With an automatic bid, Missouri Baptist and Park entered the championship field, hosted and won their opening round in three sets respectively.

The teams reached the final site and MBU earned the No. 1 see in Pool C and the Park earned the No. 1 seed in Pool D. Both won their pool outright to advance to the quarterfinals on opposite sides of the bracket.

The Pirates won their quarterfinal over Providence (Mont.) and then dealt Jamestown (N.D.) its first loss of the season in the semifinals.

The Spartans won their quarterfinal over Northwestern (Iowa) and closed out Marians (Ind.) Cinderella run in the semifinal after the Knights fought to advance out of their pool via tie break.

The championship match opened with a battle for the lead as the teams tied the score 10 times. With a score of 12 all, Missouri Baptist went on a five-point run that would give them the lead that they would maintain to a 25-18 set one win.

Park started set two with a 5-1 run sparked by a kill by Debora Bernardi. The Spartans worked their way back to tie the score at nine and the teams traded points until the Pirates rattled off a 6-1 run that would give them the space they needed to close out set two, 25-20.

The tables turned again in set three as MBU opened the set with a 6-2 run. The Spartans were able to hold the Pirates at bay to take the lead again, two sets to one.

Park controlled the fourth set from the start with a 9-2 run sparked by a kill from the hand of Nada Meawad. The Pirates maintained that lead and tied things up at two sets apiece.  

The Pirates opened set five on a 5 point run. MBU chipped away at the score and went on a 7-2 scoring run to tie things up. Knotted up at seven Ariana Macies found the floor from the service line for an ace that would spark an eight-point run to win the match.

This is the second title for the Spartans after winning in April of 2021.

Missouri Baptist is now one of five teams that have won a title back-to-back. The previous teams to do so are former members Hawaii-Hilo, Brigham Young-Hawaii, California Baptist, Fresno Pacific (Calif.) and current member Columbia (Mo.).

The last time that a team won back-to-back titles was in 2015 by former member Fresno Pacific (Calif.)

Nada Meawad of Park led all scorers with 20 kills in the match. Meawad also recorded a double-double by adding 13 digs to her 20 kills. 

Giovanna Tapigliani of MBU followed with 15 kills of her own. 

Manuela Vargas of MBU totaled the highest number of assists in the match with 48 for an average of 9.6 assists per set. 

Ariana Mcies of MBU recorded the highest number of digs with 27 total for an average of 5.4 digs per set. Three Pirates followed with 13 digs each Kasia Penyock, Nada Meawad and Amanda Mendes. 

Raylyn Dodd of MBU recorded the highest number of blocks with six assisted and one solo for a total of four blocks. 

All-Tournament Team

Camryn Opfer, Concordia (Neb.)

Olivia Galas, Bellevue (Neb.)

Bekah Horstman, Northwestern (Iowa)

Sadie Lott, Providence (Mont.)

Callie Henson, Central Methodist (Mo.)

Avari Ridgeway, Corban (Ore.)

Miah Garant, Viterbo (Wis.)

Anna Holen, Jamestown (N.D.)

Skyler Van Note, Marian (Ind.)

Isadora Stojovic, Missouri Baptist

Giovanna Tapigliani, Missouri Baptist

Nada Meawad, Park (Mo.)

Noura Meawad, Park (Mo.)

Debora Bernardi, Park (Mo.)

Defensive Player of the Tournament: Ellie Holen, Jamestown (N.D.)

Setter of the Tournament: Manuela Vargas, Missouri Baptist

Attacker of the Tournament: Nada Meawad, Park (Mo.)

Tournament Most Valuable Player: Manuela Vargas

All-Tournament Coach: Chris Nichols, Missouri Baptist