PARKVILLE, Mo. – Following a first-round victory over No. 14-ranked Mount Mercy, Missouri Baptist's HEART Conference Tournament run came to an end against No. 3-ranked Park University. The Spartans put up a fight in Wednesday's Semifinals as they stole a set from the top-seeded Pirates on their home court but fell in the rubber match for the season series – 21-25, 25-21, 18-25, 15-25.
Park, whose only loss on the year came at Missouri Baptist on March 18, got its revenge, and snapped MBU's six-game winning streak. The Spartans dropped to 21-8 on the year while the Pirates improved to 24-1 and advanced to Saturday's championship match that will feature back-to-back HEART Tournament champion and No. 3-seed Grand View.
The night started off with the Spartans taking the first point courtesy of a Park attack error. The two teams exchanged blows and following an 11-10 score in favor of the Pirates, Park began to take control of the opening frame. Despite five kills from senior
Auston Bonte, the Spartans were unable to keep up with the Pirates' high-flying attack that registered 15 kills and a .379 hitting percentage in a 25-21 Set One win for the home team.
The second frame was a very back-and-forth affair until the midway. A Pirate service error broke a 16-16 tie and put the Spartans ahead for the remainder of the set. Leading the charge for MBU was a defensive effort from
Veljko Culibrk,
Michael Anderson, and
Kyle Merzweiler. The trio accounted for five blocks and helped hold the Park attack to a hitting clip of .000%. MBU took Set Two, 25-21, to even the match.
Park bounced right back. In fact, the Pirates opened up the scoring in both Sets Three and Four and never trailed in the final two frames. Even though freshman
Veljko Culibrk began to hit his stride with 13 kills and a .600% hitting clip in Sets Three and Four, the Pirates distanced themselves from the Spartans averaging .488% as a team in 25-18 and 25-15 set wins.
Culibrk ended the night with a team-high 18 kills (.314%) and tied sophomore
Michael Anderson with six blocks. Back-to-back HEART Setter of the Week
David Rudic recorded 43 assists for a 10.75 assists per set average. Joining Culibrk in double digits was outside hitter
Auston Bonte with 17 kills and a team-high five digs.
No. 11 MBU's hope at extending the postseason now lies in the hands of the NAIA Men's Volleyball National Championship selection committee. Eight conference tournament champions will earn automatic bids to the National Championship with just four at-large bids available. The NAIA Men's Volleyball National Championship selection show on will take place on Monday, April 3 at 4 p.m. CST and can be viewed on the
NAIA's YouTube channel.
