ST. LOUIS, Mo. – In the opening game of the Grand View University tournament, Missouri Baptist University took down Saint Ambrose in three sets on Friday evening. The sweep over the Fighting Bees extended the Spartan winning streak to six games while pushing their record to 7-2 in 2020.
 
The first set was very tightly contested but was ultimately decided by a 6-1 Spartan run midway through. The Bees were nearly able to tie things at the end, but two straight kills from senior Luka Cajic gave MBU a 25-22 win and a 1-0 lead.
 
The second set was even closer. Down in a 17-14 hole, the Spartans battled their way back to take the next three points to tie things up. Tied again later in the set at 22-22, the Spartans went with the hot hand in Cajic for two straight kills and ended it with an ace from Mario Lucas.
 
Missouri Baptist had to play catch up in the third set to finish off the sweep. They found themselves losing 15-10 halfway through. The two teams continued to exchange points until the Bees were on the brink of avoiding the sweep.
 
Determine to break the brooms out, MBU took six of the next eight points after being down 21-19 to finish off the Bees in three.
 
"We played good," said head coach Tom Young. "We have to be ready for Aquinas at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Its redemption time." This will be the first matchup for the Spartans against Aquinas since they had their perfect season ended by them last season with a 3-1 loss in the NAIA National Semifinal.
 
Cajic led the team in kills on Friday collecting 17 while Kastratovic buried 14. Last week's Conference Setter of the Week, Jason Harman, continued his strong play with 38 assists.
 
On defense, Skyler Capllonch led the team with 10 digs. Kastratovic had strong two-way play, collecting six digs.
 
The Grand View University Tournament continues for the Spartans on Saturday with a pair of tough games against (9) Aquinas University and (RV) Briar Cliff. Those games are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.