ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist, ranked 12^th in the NAIA Men's Volleyball Top 15 Preseason Poll, started off its 2022 campaign on a winning note narrowly defeating NCAA DII Quincy University, 25-20, 23-25, 26-24, 27-25. The two teams duked it out for most of Wednesday evening with very little separation and down-to-the-wire finishes in the final three sets.
 
With the season-opening victory, the Spartans extended their winning streak over the Hawks to five matches while improving their record in season openers to 8-1 since 2014.
 
Wednesday marked the beginning of a new era at the setter position following the graduation of two-time NAIA All-American Jason Harman. Freshman David Rudic of Gornji Milanovac, Serbia, won the starting role, which has boasted nine NAIA All-Americans in 10 seasons, and had a productive debut with 49 assists (12.25 a/s) and 7 digs.
 
Rudic directed MBU's attack to 55 kills and a .230 hitting percentage compared to Quincy's 50 kills and .201%. The 6-4 freshman fed the pin hitters early and often and continued to send the ball in their direction for most of the contest. MBU's top returner and three-time NAIA All-American Miljan Kastratovic paced the Spartans with a match-high 20 kills and team-best .311 hitting percentage.
 
Second-year Spartan Auston Bonte was next in line with 13 kills and came up big when the lights were shining brightest. The junior outside hitter contributed four of his 13 kills in the fourth set. With Quincy in position to extend the match owning set point twice at 24-23 and 25-24, Bonte finished off the Hawks with three consecutive kills.
 
Newcomer Stephen Bilkey, an O'Fallon, Mo. native and transfer from Missouri Valley College, had an impressive debut tying a career-high in blocks (7) to go along with 12 kills and 6 digs.
 
On the defensive front, libero Stephen Menzel kept several plays alive with highlight reel digs. The St. Louis senior not only achieved a new career high in digs (24), but surpassed his previous best by five.
 
At the net, MBU's middle blocking duo of Gabe Norsigian and Kyle Merzweiler combined for nine block assists but saw just 20 attack attempts between the two. Merzweiler garnered 14 balls converting seven into kills for a .286 hitting percentage.
 
Neither team had much luck at the service line as the Spartans and Hawks accounted for 38 service errors with just two service aces apiece.
 
No. 12-ranked Missouri Baptist is right back at it on Friday night as it welcomes Olivet Nazarene University to the SRC for a 7 p.m. contest.