ST. LOUIS – The No. 14-ranked Missouri Baptist University men's volleyball team went 3-for-3 on sweeps this week and concluded with a straight-set win over St. Ambrose University (Iowa) on Saturday – 25-12, 25-19, 25-16.
 
Improving to 12-6 overall, the Spartans pushed their winning streak to three as they enter a busy stretch of the schedule with four matches on the docket for next week, including (RV) Cornerstone, Culver-Stockton, Clarke, and (7) Mount Mercy.
 
The Spartans overpowered the Fighting Bees on Saturday in several areas, most noticeable at the service line and passing. Led by four service aces apiece for outside hitters Miljan Kastratovic, Auston Bonte, and Milos Markovic, the Spartans registered a season-high 15 aces as a team. And for just the second time this season, MBU finished with more service aces (15) than service errors (12).
 
In serve receive, Missouri Baptist was near flawless with a .979 reception percentage. The Spartans tied a season-low for reception errors, yielding just one ace in 49 Fighting Bee service attempts.
 
With setter David Rudic on the mend and back in the starting lineup Saturday, MoBap responded with one of its most efficient sets of the season. Recording a kill in 16 of its 19 swings, Missouri Baptist hit a red-hot .789 in Set One, representing its second-highest hitting percentage of the year. The Spartans were a perfect 6-for-6 (1.000) in Set Five in a 3-2 win at Graceland.
 
Leading the way for MBU in Set One was opposite hitter Veljko Culibrk, who easily navigated the first half of the frame. The freshman from Novi Sad, Serbia, had seven kills in the set, with six coming in the first 13 points. After that, MBU coasted to a 25-12 Set One win.
 
With MBU hitting at such a high percentage, St. Ambrose didn't record its first dig of the match until the 12-9 mark in the second set. Luckily for the Fighting Bees, the Spartans' dominant hitting performance wore off. SAU tied Set Two on five occasions but could not grab its first lead of the match. Up by just two, MBU scored in five of the last six rallies and won 25-19.
 
The Spartans led from start to finish in Set Three, successfully making it the entire match without surrendering the lead to St. Ambrose. Milos Markovic and Miljan Kastratovic combined for five kills and five service aces in the 25-16 set win.
 
MBU's Culibrk led all players with a match-best 10 kills, followed by Kastratovic with nine. Seven other Spartans registered at least one kill on the afternoon. David Rudic led the setting efforts with 19 assists and two kills in his return. Starting at libero, Marko Jovanovic paced the Spartans with seven digs as well as two aces. Petar Lecic had a team-best two blocks.
 
No. 14 Missouri Baptist wraps up its six-match homestand as (RV) Cornerstone University (Mich.) comes to town on Tuesday at 6 p.m.