MARSHALL, Mo. – On the first day of the Missouri Valley Viking Invitational, the Spartans collected their third consecutive sweep defeating Cumberland University in three sets. Seniors Luka Cajic and Drew Iliff led the way to victory in Friday's match, combining for 21 kills.
 
The first set saw Missouri Baptist fall into a quick 9-5 hole. A couple of Phoenix attack errors gave the Spartans momentum to go on a 9-1 run to reclaim the lead.
 
Cumberland did not go quietly as Christian Lester later tied the game back up at 15 with a kill off the assist from Jordan Pierce. The tie game seemingly woke MBU up as Iliff and the Spartans proceeded to take 10 of the next 15 points on nine kills.
 
The strong offense continued in the second set as Thomas Beye and Gabe Norsigian propelled their team to a 5-0 lead. The Phoenix rallied and took a mid-set lead, but their chances of winning were slashed after another late-set run put the Spartans on top 2-0.
 
Missouri Baptist could taste the finish line and took care of business in the final set. Cajic and Iliff continued their strong offensive day to give them their first victory of the Missouri Valley Viking Invitational and their third consecutive sweep.
 
"We didn't play our cleanest volleyball tonight but it's always nice to get a 3-0 victory," said head coach Tom Young. "Skyler Capllonch had a great night in serve receive."
 
Offensively, Cajic tallied 12 kills while Iliff was right behind him with nine. Jason Harman and Job Faber set up their teammates all match collecting 26 and 10 assists, respectively. As a team, the Spartans had three players hit over .400 and hit .250 as a whole.
 
On defense, nothing got by Skyler Capllonch and Mario Lucas led the effort combining for 21 digs and no reception errors.
 
The tournament continues tomorrow afternoon with matchups against Lincoln College at 1 p.m. and Missouri Valley College at 3:30 p.m.