Parkville, Mo. – [BOX SCORE] The Missouri Baptist men's volleyball team clashed with rival and co-season conference regular season winners Park University and defeated the Pirates 3-1 in a battle to the conference champion.
The Spartans started the game off on a high from Friday's win to quickly take the lead from the Pirates in set one. After an ace from Mico Janicijevic, it forced the Pirates to take the first time out of the game. MBU continued to build its lead to five as Janicijevic toed the service line. The Pirates began to force the Spartans' hand as Park University gained the momentum at just the right moment to close the gap and take the set 26-24.
MBU captured the lead at the start of the second set as the Spartans cruised through set two. The lead was maintained thorough the entirety of the set for MBU for a 26-25 set two win.
With another early lead, Missouri Baptist maintained control in the third set. As frustrations mounted on the other side of the net, MBU held true as the Pirates called a time out. The momentum shifted as Park University began to close the gap once again. The battle ensued as, volley after volley, the teams attacked from every angle to keep the momentum on its side. Janicijevic notched another ace to hand the Spartans the victory in the set three battle, 25-19.
The confrontation continued as the score remained tight to start things off in the fourth set as the teams fought point for point. As tensions mounted the co-regular season winners fought to the bitter end as the Spartans had the final say to take the conference championship 30-28.
Outside hitters Chris Flood and Janicijevic led MBU with a combined 34 kills. Flood also matched his career high of 10 digs. Senior Kevin Knight posted a hitting percentage of 0.833 with five kills off of six total attempts. Kyle Foley set a new career high of 14 digs.
Missouri Baptist will now prepare for the national tournament as they have already been awarded the host team bid. The NAIA National Invitational will be held on the Spartans home court in the Carl & Deloris Petty Sports and Recreation Complex on April 23-25.
