St. Louis, Mo.- In front of a packed house, the men's volleyball team were looking to upset #1 ranked St. Ambrose Friday night. The Bees took the first two sets, fending off the Spartans for the 22-25, 27-29, 25-22 and 17-25 win.
The atmosphere was electric as two top five teams battled it out in the first set. The Spartans took advantage of the momentum and earned a 10-6 lead. St. Ambrose showed why they are number one, fighting back and taking a 16-17 lead. The Bees were able to take control the rest of the set winning 22-25.
In the second set, each serve consisted of long rallies by both teams. St. Ambrose jumped out ahead early, trying to grab a two set advantage. The scoring went back and forth until the Spartans were one point away from set point up 24-23. SAU battled back again, winning 27-29 as the most exciting set of the evening.
In a crucial third set, the Spartans knew from the start they were not going to go down without a fight. While the Bees were looking for a clean sweep of Missouri Baptist, as St. Ambrose jumped out to an early 1-6 lead. MBU was able to even the score at 9-9, only to see SAU start to pull away. The team was down five at 16-21, but didn't give up. The Spartans went on a 9-1 run to take set three 25-22, getting the team and the crowd back into the match.
Missouri Baptist was looking to even the score and force a fifth and final set. St. Ambrose took advantage of shutting down the Spartans early, controlling all of the fourth set for the 17-25 win.
The Spartans were led by Zach Zeris and Gustavo Cintron with 11 kills. Robert Esser added 36 assists. Sam Platt and Danny Traylor each chipped in 10 digs defensively.
The teams' record falls to 3-1 on the early season, but will look to rebound on the road against Lindenwood University January 25th at 7:00 p.m
