ST. LOUIS – Outside hitter Auston Bonte had a career day on Thursday as No. 11-ranked Missouri Baptist University Men's Volleyball outlasted seventh-ranked Georgetown College (Ky.) in an action-packed and hard-fought five setter. The senior leader tied a career-high and led all players with 23 kills and added 10 10 digs and a pair of aces in the Spartans' 25-22, 19-25, 25-18, 17-25, 15-13 victory.
The Spartans kicked off a three-game homestand with their second straight win over a Top 10 opponent. They moved to 5-2, 3-1 HEART and grew their win streak to three matches, while snapping Georgetown's three-game winning streak. The Tigers, who dropped on spot in the latest rankings, sit at 7-2 and remain undefeated in the Mid-South at 2-0.
The match began with a rare swing from MBU setter David Rudic that resulted in the first point of the frame. Following that, both teams exchanged points before the Tigers went on their first run of the night. MoBap countered to retake the lead and set the tone for the remainder of the set. Carrying the offensive load were pin hitters Auston Bonte and Miljan Kastratovic combining for 10 kills (.642%) out of the Spartans' 13 kills in the set. Bonte closed out the frame with a kill to take Set One, 25-22.
After a strong opening frame, MBU experienced its worst offensive set of the night. Georgetown took advantage of MBU's shortcomings with an 8-2 run in the middle of the set and put it out of reach for the Spartans. GC tied the match at one apiece following the 25-19 Set Two score.
The Spartans bounced back and responded with their best offensive and defensive set of the night. The offensive hit .409% with Bonte leading the charge with seven kills. Defensively, they held the Tigers to a hitting clip of .148% and stonewalled Georgetown's attack three separate times in Set Three. MBU head coach Tom Young swapped liberos putting freshman Marko Jovanovic in and he answered the call. Jovanovic helped MoBap separate itself from the Tigers with two service aces in an 8-1 run. MBU grabbed another one-set lead with the 25-18 win.
Needing to win the set to push the match to a fifth set, Georgetown put together their best set offensively connecting on .448% of their swings. The Spartan offense had another lackluster set with a large run of attack errors. Unfortunately, MBU was unable to recover from the miscues and surrendered Set Four to the Tigers, 25-17.
Much like the back-and-forth action leading up to the tiebreaker, the final set was a nailbiter from start to finish. Between the two teams' runs, MBU and Georgetown encountered nine ties and five lead changes in the fifth set. Trailing by two at 11-9, the Spartans went on a 6-2 run to take the final set, 15-13. The Spartans turned to the star of the match, Auston Bonte, during the first and only match point where he put the game to rest.
Joining Bonte in double-digit kills was Kastrovic with 16 kills (.300%), nine digs, five assists and four blocks (1 S, 3 A). Another one of David Rudic's favorite targets on Thursday was Veljko Culibrk, who provided nine kills and five blocks (1 S, 4 A).
Other stat leaders on the night included setter David Rudic with 41 assists, Kyle Merzweiler with a team-best six blocks, and Marko Jovanovic with a team-best 11 digs.
The Spartans return to action Friday night in the Petty SRC against conference opponent Clarke University. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
