ST. LOUIS [BOX SCORE OTTAWA] [BOX SCORE PARK] – The Missouri Baptist men's volleyball team defeated Ottawa (Kan.) in the Midwest Conference Semifinal 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-20) and turned around to defeat Park University (Mo.) 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-21) in the Championship match to claim the Midwest Conference title on Saturday as well as other conference awards.
The Spartans (29-1, 10-0) started the day off in the semifinal match against Ottawa.
MBU controlled the match from beginning to end and held the Braves to hitting percentages less than 0.300. Missouri Baptist consistently recorded hitting percentages of 0.400 and above all throughout the match.
Mico Janicijevic led the offense against the Braves with 11 total kills.
Kyle Foley recorded 34 total assists in the match for an average of 11.3 assists per set.
Robert Hall kept the ball alive with 10 total digs in the match.
The Spartans second match of the day was against rival Park University in a battle for the Midwest Conference Championship title.
Both teams played evenly through the first set as the Spartans gained just the slight advantage to take the set. The teams recorded hitting percentages that had a difference of 0.041.
MBU carried the momentum of set one into set two as Missouri Baptist went on to record its highest hitting percentage of the match (0.500) and advanced the lead to two sets.
The Pirates continued to fight but the Spartans closed out the match in the third set to sweep Park University 3-0. Missouri Baptist held Park to its lowest hitting percentage of the match at 0.048.
Chris Flood led the offense against Park with 10 total kills.
Kyle Foley posted 32 total assists in the match for an average of 10.67 assists per set.
The Spartans were also awarded with many All-Conference honors:
Defensive Player of the Year – Robert Hall
Setter of the Year – Kyle Foley
Coach of the Year – John Yehling
All-Conference MVP – Kyle Foley
1st Team All-Conference –
Kyle Foley
Mico Janicijevic
Race Munger
Second Team All-Conference – Chris Flood
Academic All-Conference –
Kyle Foley
Mico Janicijevic
Mark Bilanzic
William Young
All-Tournament Team – Donald Flemming
All-Tournament Team/Tournament MVP – Chris Flood
Missouri Baptist will now have a week off to prepare for the NAIA National Invitational on April 20-23. The Spartans will have an automatic bid due to being the host team.
