ST. LOUIS – The No. 11-ranked Missouri Baptist University men's volleyball team overcame a mistake-laden first frame to capture its third straight Conway Clash in four sets at Maryville University Tuesday evening, 23-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-16. Coming off a disappointing loss at No. 8 Park (Mo.), the Spartans returned to their winning ways thanks to a career night from freshman setter Josh Kaemmerer.
 
In his first career start, Kaemmerer showed that the moment wasn't too big for him as he posted 45 assists against the Saints, an NCAA Division I men's volleyball program. On the night, 51.1% of his sets turned into kills for the Spartans. He also recorded career highs in digs (5) and service aces (2).
 
With the victory, Missouri Baptist (9-4, 6-3 HEART) capped off its four-game road swing with three wins. Meanwhile, Maryville dropped its second straight match and moved to 4-9 overall. This marked the second consecutive matchup that the Saints won Set One before MoBap rattled off wins in the following three sets to win in four.
 
After a quiet weekend, Missouri Baptist's attack came out swinging with 13 kills on 27 swings compared to the Saints' nine kills on 19 attacks. But, much to MBU's first-set demise, the Spartans gifted Maryville 15 points via errors to keep the set competitive. Despite the efforts from Auston Bonte and Veljko Culibrk – eight kills and two blocks – MU held off a late Spartan push to take the opening set, 25-23.
 
Looking to respond, MBU had its best offensive set with a hitting clip of .421% and a solid defensive performance leading Maryville to hit -.038%. Middle blockers Kyle Merzweiler and Michael Anderson played a crucial role in the second-set success hitting perfectly on all four attack attempts while contributing two blocks and a service ace. MBU capitalized on Maryville's mistakes to take Set Two, 25-17.
 
The Spartan defense followed Set Two with another sturdy showing and kept the Saints hitting in the negatives (-.105%). At the net, MBU collected three blocks. Trailing 8-5 early, the Spartans rebounded emphatically with a monstrous 13-0 run and took seven of the final 10 points. MoBap grabbed a 25-14 win in Set Three and took complete control of the match.
 
Following two lackluster sets offensively, the Saints looked for a spark in Set Four and were stopped well short of getting back on track. MBU held the home squad to just four kills in the final set (.067%) while registering a match-high 14 kills. The trio of Auston Bonte, Veljko Culibrk, and Miljan Kastratovic combined for 13 of the team's 14 kills and sealed the win with a Kastratovic kill, 25-16.
 
MBU held an overwhelming margin over the Saints in kills (49-23) and service aces (11-2) while maintaining a slight edge in blocks (10-8).
 
MBU ended the night with three players with double-digit kills. Bonte led all players with 15 kills, followed by freshman Veljko Culibrk, who finished with 13 kills, a match-best four service aces, and three blocks, and Miljan Kastratovic with 12 kills (.304%). Other stat leaders on Tuesday included Michael Anderson with five blocks (2 S, 3 A), libero Noah Varga with 14 digs, and freshman Josh Kaemmerer with 45 assists.
 
No. 11 Missouri Baptist kicks off a six-match homestand this weekend against conference foes No. 4 Grand View and No. 14 William Penn on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at Noon, respectively.