LINCOLN, Ill. – The No. 14-ranked Missouri Baptist men's volleyball team extended its winning streak to nine matches on Tuesday by sweeping Lincoln College, 25-21, 25-18, 25-16. Resting many of the normal starters, Missouri Baptist (13-2, 7-2 HEART) turned to its underclassmen, who carried the torch for the Spartans' third sweep in a row and fifth in seven matches.
 
MBU led for nearly the entire match and held to a sizable advantage over the Lynx in kills (36-21), hitting percentage (.316-.014), service aces (7-3), and blocks (9-2).
 
In MoBap's 25-21 opening set victory, four Spartans recorded at least three kills apiece including sophomores Michael Olson (4), Milos Markovic (3), Sam Goedde (3), and Kyle Merweiler (3). Merzweiler, who earned both Heart of America Athletic Conference and NAIA Defender of the Week, picked up where he left off with three blocks in Set One.
 
The Spartans and Lynx jockeyed for position early in Set Two and were deadlocked at 12-12 at the midway point. From there, MoBap took control via a 9-3 run and closed out the set with a 25-18 win.
 
The third and final set MBU was in complete control and never trailed. The Spartans had their most efficient set of the match with 13 kills and a .400 hitting percentage while holding Lincoln to a -.080 clip (5 K, 7 E, 25 TA).
 
Leading the way offensively for the Spartans was sophomore middle hitter Michael Olson with a team-best nine kills and two service aces. Joining Olson with 5+ kills in the match were senior Will Merzweiler (7), Sam Goedde (6), and Michael Anderson (5).
 
Other stat leaders on the day included freshman libero Noah Varga with 10 digs, NAIA Defender of the Week Kyle Merzweiler with six blocks in two sets of action, and David Rudic with 30 assists.
 
With a new NAIA Top 15 Poll coming out on Wednesday, the Spartans expect to jump back into the Top 10 following last week's ranked wins over No. 11 Missouri Valley and No. 4 Park.