Sioux City, Iowa - The Columbia Cougar volleyball team ended their 2008 season today with a loss in the NAIA Volleyball National Tournament. The Cougars fell to Georgetown (Ky.) College in five games by scores of 25-22, 23-25, 22-25, 25-21 and 16-18. Georgetown will advance to play first seeded Fresno Pacific (Calif.) University at 3:45 today in the quarterfinal round. Columbia ends their season with a record of 41-5.

Although they fell behind early, the Cougars got on track and came from behind to win game one. It was a different story in games two and three as the Cougars fell in both games, but not by much. Columbia came back to life in game four and for a good part of game five. The Cougars were up 14-12 in the final game before Georgetown tied it at 14. With the match on the line the two teams tied at 14, 15 and 16 before the Tigers took their first lead at 17-16. After a time-out called by head coach Melinda Wrye-Washington the Cougars kill attempt went long, giving Georgetown the victory.

Flavia Lino, who leads the tournament in kills per game, had 30 kills and 10 digs in the match. Juliana Da Silva was also in double figures with 16 kills. Nicole Murphy had a team high six blocks. The lone senior on the Cougar squad, Luana Branco, ended an unmatched career at Columbia with seven kills, 57 assists, 13 digs and three blocks in today's contest.