ST. LOUIS – In one of the more daunting tasks with back-to-back matches against the NAIA's No. 1 and 3-ranked teams, the No. 11-ranked Missouri Baptist men's volleyball team proved they belonged with a statement win over top-ranked Grand View on Saturday. With less than a 24-hour turnaround, the Spartans capped off the 3-0 week with a 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 25-20 victory over the newly minted No. 1 team in the NAIA and defending 2021 national champion Vikings.
The last time the Spartans upset a No. 1-ranked team was in 2017 when MBU handed then-No. 1 Park University (Mo.) its first loss of the season.
Grand View came into Saturday's match with as much momentum as any team in the NAIA with recent wins over No. 4 Park, No. 5 William Penn, No. 6 Jamestown (2x), No. 10 Lourdes, and No. 13 Missouri Valley all in the last month. However, all good things must come to an end and the Vikings' 11-match winning streak did just that.
With the victory, MoBap improved to 12-0 at home in 2022 and extended its winning streak in the SRC to 16 matches. Overall, the Spartans are 18-5 and 11-3 in the HEART with four regular season matches remaining.
"We talked about it before the match that we had to make sure to improve on our blocking from last night because we got out-blocked and still managed to win the match," head coach
Tom Young said in his Spartan Digital Network post-game interview. "I thought we did a great job in all facets of the match today."
Blocking was one of the key areas that separated the Spartans from top-ranked Grand View. MBU out-blocked the Vikings, 10-2, led the by efforts of middle blocker
Kyle Merzweiler (2 S, 3 A) and his other front-row counterparts –
Gabe Norsigian (4), Rudic (3), Bilkey (2), Bonte (2), and Kastratovic (2).
Additionally, the Spartans played a much cleaner game in comparison to their hitting performance on Friday against No. 3 William Penn. MBU averaged a .350 hitting %, while the visitors from Des Moines, Iowa barely broke past .200%
For the sixth match in a row, junior outside hitter
Auston Bonte led the team in kills finishing the afternoon with 17. He was joined in doubles figures by
Miljan Kastratovic (12 kills), who returned to the starting lineup after missing the past two matches. Kyle Merweiler was another offensive weapon for MBU setter
David Rudic hammering home eight kills on 10 swings with no errors (.800%) and a match-best five blocks. Merzweiler had a big Set Two, going 5-for-5 n kill attempts.
Other stat leaders for MBU included Rudic with 22 assists, Bilkey and Menzel with four digs a piece.
