ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] The No. 1-ranked Missouri Baptist (Mo.) men's volleyball team won a thrilling four set match, with 35 total ties, against No. 3 St. Ambrose University (Iowa) 3-1 (20-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-21) and went undefeated in pool play.
Set one proved a rough start for the Spartans (28-8, 8-1) as St. Ambrose started off hot. With a crucial block from Shane Welch and Chris Flood the team began to close the scoring gap that the Bees had created. Kevin Knight threw down an over pass from the middle to put the momentum back in favor of Missouri Baptist.
The Bees came right back at the Spartans in effort to take down the number one seed. With their resolve the Bees took the set from MBU 25-20.
A back and forth battle ensued in the second set as each team hustled to keep the ball alive. Missouri Baptist matched St. Ambrose point for point. With the roar of the crowd, the Spartans took the second set from SAU 27-25. Missouri Baptist held the Bees to their lowest hitting percentage of 0.150 in the set.
The conflict continued into the third set as both teams traded spots for the lead. Chris Flood hammered home an over pass to fire up MBU and the home team began to gain the momentum. Missouri Baptist picked their shots carefully and waited for their moment and came out on top 25-20 with a solo block from Welch to take a one set lead.
Just as intense as the last three sets, the fourth set brought several crucial play. Each member of the team put all they had on the floor to fulfill their role on the court. With game point on the line for Missouri Baptist, the Spartan fans rose to their feet as Welch had another pivotal solo block to end the game 25-21.
Mico Janicijevic and Flood led the Spartans from the outside with a combined 29 kills. Knight, Welch, Sean Benedict, and Kyle Foley each posted a hitting percentage in the 0.500 range as they each only had one error on the game.
Foley matched his career high of five kills as well as posting 11.5 assists per set on the night. Robert Hallcontinued to find himself in the right position with 12 digs.
As winner of Pool A, Missouri Baptist will face the runner-up in Pool B, at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 24, in the first Semifinal match-up of the 2015 NAIA National Invitational.
