It was an exciting match at the Carl & Deloris Petty Sports and Recreation Complex on Missouri Baptist's campus tonight. The No. 3 Pirates of Park University traveled to St. Louis to take on the No. 4 Missouri Baptist Spartans. It was a closely fought battle, lasting almost two and half hours.
The first set ended in favor of the Spartans. The Missouri Baptist offense came out strong, led by the efforts of Mico Janicijevic and Clayton Baker on the outside. MBU defeated the Pirates, 25-21.
The second set was another close one, but Park pulled out the win this time, 21-25. The Pirate's outside hitter, Daniel Arteaga, was the biggest offensive threat against Missouri Baptist.
After dropping the third set, the Spartans were able come back and pull out a win. The Spartans were aggressive behind the service line, which was a huge factor in this set's win, 25-19.
The fourth set went back to being in favor of the Pirates. In this set, Parks service intensity allowed a 3-0 run for the Pirates at a crucial time. Kastan Maness, an outside hitter, had three consecutive aces. Park then went on a run, too much for the Spartans to fight back from. The Pirates won 25-16.
The final set of the match was a hard fought set, just as the entire match was. The Spartans jumped up to an early lead, and forced the switch at eight. The Pirates fought back. The Spartans had match point, but Park forced the side out. Following a Pirate service ace and block, Park took set five 15-17.
Janicijevic was a huge offensive force for the Spartans. The freshman ended the night with 18 kills, 4 service aces, and 4 digs. Also chipping in for the Spartan was Clayton Baker. The senior added 14 kills, 4 digs, and 2 blocks. Libero Danny Gruszczyk finished the night with 12 digs. Arteaga was the gamechanger for the Pirates. The outside hitter had twice as many kills then all of his teammates at 14. The Pirates serving was also more consistant than the Spartans. Park had 17 service errors compared to the Spartans 28.
With tonight's loss, the Spartans fall to 19-7, 5-2 in conference. MBU will travel to Quincy University to take on the Hawks tomorrow evening, before returning home Thursday for the regular season finale and Senior Night against the Lynx of the University of Lindenwood-Belleville.
