HANNIBAL, Mo. – The Men's volleyball team won a five set thriller on the road Tuesday night against conference foe Hannibal LaGrange (17-25, 25-18, 25-21, 24-26, 15-6).
The Spartans started out very slowly and only hit -.088 as a team in the first set. The Trojans of Hannibal came out firing and never looked back taking the first set 25-17.
In the second and third set the Spartans pieced their offense and defense together winning 25-18 and 25-21. Junior Danny "Noonan" Gruszczyk had a couple great digs down the stretch tallying 16 on the night.
Hannibal would not let up in the fourth set by playing great defense against the Spartans. MBU hit .064 in the set and lost 24-26 causing a fifth and deciding set.
It was all MBU in the fifth set as the Spartans dominated Hannibal in nearly every stat category. Junior outside hitter Clayton Baker put the icing on the cake with a big kill late in the set to put the game out of reach, 15-6.
Freshman Josh Comer came off the bench to serve up 4 aces for the Spartans while Junior Middle Blocker Jordan Pinto had 10 kills and 3 solo blocks.
With the win, the Spartans move to 2-1 on the season and 2-0 in the MAMVIC West conference. MBU men's volleyball will be back in action on Tuesday, January 29th at cross town rival Lindenwood University. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
