ST. LOUIS, MO. – Missouri Baptist was downed in four sets by the fourth-ranked Missouri Valley Vikings on Tuesday night. After winning set two to tie the match, the Spartans lost sets three and four dropping their overall record to 14-4 and 10-4 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.
 
The first set was a battle until the end. MBU took a 21-20 lead late on a kill by Miljan Kastratovic. A service error and a MVC kill put the home team in the hole. Kastratovic came through with another kill to tie it.
 
The Vikings responded with yet another kill and two Spartan attack errors to finish off the first frame with a 25-23 final.
 
Missouri Baptist woke up for the second set. A kill and a service ace from Milos Markovic had them off and running into a lead that got as big as 10 points. Leading 24-16, Gabe Norsigian ended set two with a kill from an assist by Jason Harman.
 
Sets three and four got off to the same start. Missouri Valley took an early 6-1 lead in both. They found resistance in the third set as the Spartans stormed back to draw within two at 23-21. The Vikings thwarted the comeback bid on a pair of MBU mistakes to take a 2-1 lead into set four.
 
In set four, they took their 6-1 lead and never looked back. The visitors quieted the limited home crowd with a dominant 25-15 win and the match victory.
 
Kyle Merzweiler had an outstanding game hitting .667 with 11 kills and four total blocks. Miljan Kastratovic and Daniel Borsi did their best to hold up the offense with 13 kills each.
 
On defense, Stephen Menzel paced the Spartans with 10 digs. Jason Harman and Milos Markovic were right behind him with nine and eight digs, respectively.  
 
(RV) Graceland University is up next on the schedule as they come to the Carl & Deloris Petty SRC for a Thursday night conference matchup. The opening serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.