ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] The Missouri Baptist men's volleyball team began play in the Fighting Bees Classic with a win over Graceland University with a 3-0 sweep on Friday night.

Although Graceland held the lead for most of the set the Spartans kept the score close. MBU capitalized on their close lead at just the right moment to close out the set 25-23.

The second set was close at the start until 9-8 when Sean Benedict came up with a kill. Benedict then stepped up to the service line and remained there for a four point run to give the Spartans the advantage.

Graceland attempted to advance on the Spartans again but after a kill from Shane Welch MBU was able to advance their lead to nine with Chris Flood at the service line. Flood fired off two service aces to start it off. Missouri Baptist closed the set with a service ace from Sean Benedict for a 25-16 final score.

With another tug of war to start the third set off, MBU made their move with a timely kill from Kyle Foley, which sent Kevin Knight to the service line.  Knight toed the service live for five serves to give the Spartans the advantage.

Missouri Baptist gained more ground after a kill from Flood to send Foley to the service line. Foley held at the service line for four serves, one of which produced an ace. The final nail in the coffin was an attacking error by the Yellow Jackets that resulted in a 25-18 final score.

Mico Janicijevic led the Spartans with 10 kills. Shane Welch posted another first-class hitting percentage of 0.714. The 6-10 middle blocker recorded five kills on seven attempts with no errors on the night. Libero Robert Hall posted a new career high of 10 digs.

Missouri Baptist will continue play tomorrow in the Fighting Bees Classic on Saturday, March 28, with games against St. Ambrose and Grand View University.