DES MOINES, IOWA – Missouri Baptist was knocked out of the Heart of America Athletic Conference tournament on Wednesday evening with a loss to (1) Grand View in the semifinals. After defeating the Mount Mercy Mustangs in the quarterfinals, the Spartans bow out of the tournament pushing their record to 18-6 on the season.
 
The two teams traded punches early in set one. The Spartans found a 10-8 lead but it quickly evaporated in the light of the Viking offense. A pair of three-point runs gave the home team control and they did not look back taking set one with a 25-22 final.
 
MBU took the first two points of the second frame followed quickly by eight straight points from Grand View. Another scoring run midway through the set put it out of reach for the Spartans, giving the Vikings a 2-0 advantage heading into the third.
 
Down once again in the third set, kills from Drew Iliff and Miljan Kastratovic pushed the Spartans ahead at 8-6. The momentum looked to have shifted as the visitors extended the lead to 14-11 behind a kill from Daniel Borsi and sloppy play from the opposition.
 
Grand View cleaned it up and scored on five of the next six followed immediately by a few points from MBU. The fourth seed in the tournament continued to cling to a one-point lead until the Vikings scored on two Spartan errors and a Felix Chapman ace to put the score at 23-21.
 
With their backs against the wall, Iliff kept his team in the game with a kill to draw within one. Unfortunately for Missouri Baptist, they surrendered the next two points losing the final set 25-22, keeping them out of the conference championship on Saturday.
 
The offense traveled with the Spartans ­­on Wednesday as Kastratovic collected 11 kills and a .529 attack percentage while Iliff hit .385 with 14 kills. Other notable stats include Jason Harman's 31 assists, Borsi's six kills, and Stephen Menzel's seven digs.
                                                                                      
While the Spartans have yet to qualify for the NAIA National tournament, they can still find their way to the dance with an at-large bid. All qualifiers are scheduled to be announced by the league on Monday, April 12 at 3 p.m.