ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Baptist men's volleyball team hosted two top ten ranked teams Saturday at MBU. The Spartans dropped the first match of the day 3-1 to the number 8-ranked Grand View Vikings. In the Spartans second game of the day, the Spartans defeated the number 6-ranked Cardinal Stritch Wolves 25-21.
In game one, the first set did not start off well for the Spartans. MBU had a -.129 attack percentage and lost the game 16-25. The second set was much different for Missouri Baptist. The Spartans has a .364 attack percentage and held Grand View to only a .206 attack percentage. MBU won the game 25-19.
Set three was a back and forth battle right from the start. MBU struggled with serving during the set and had 11 service errors. Grand View won the set 26-24. The fourth and final set was a tough one from the first serve, but the Vikings were just too much for the Spartans to handle. Grand View took the game 20-25 and the match 1-3.
Missouri Baptist could not seem to find their serve in the first game. The Spartans had 21 service errors in the match and only had a .233 attack percentage.
The Spartans did not start their second game of the day against Cardinal Stritch the way they would have liked. Despite hitting only .094 percent, MBU battled hard but came up short in the first set 22-25.
In the second set, Missouri Baptist jumped out early and looked like a different team. MBU had 17 kills in the set and an impressive .500 attack percentage. MBU won the game 25-20. Robert Esser had 12 assists in the set. MBU continued in set three and behind Jordan Pinto's four kills and .429 attack percentage, the Spartans put the Wolves away 25-22.
The fourth set was all Missouri Baptist. The Spartans got out on top early and looked to close the day out with a solid win over the Wolves. MBU built an 11-7 lead forcing Cardinal Stritch to call a timeout. After the time out the Spartans took care of business and put the Wolves away 25-21.
After winning one game and losing one game on the day, Missouri Baptist moves to 5-2 on the season and 2-1 MAMVIC West. The Spartans next match will be next weekend in the Spartan Invitational at MBU. The first match for MBU is against Park University at 11 a.m. on Fri. Feb. 22.
