ST. LOUIS – The No. 12-ranked Missouri Baptist University men's volleyball team was a mere two points away from pulling off the reverse sweep of No. 2 Park University (Mo.) on Tuesday but came up short in its Heart of America Athletic Conference opener. The Pirates, who had won just once in the Carl & Deloris Petty Sports & Recreation Complex since 2015, snapped a seven-game losing streak in St. Louis, holding off the Spartans to win 25-22, 25-17, 20-25, 24-26, 15-13.
 
With the loss, MBU dropped its first contest of 2024 after entering the rivalry matchup with a 9-0 record. The second-ranked Pirates now sport the same record as MoBap at 9-1 overall but took the lead position in the HEART conference standings with the win.
 
Park's strong start in Set One, aided by a 10-2 run, put MBU in catch-up mode early. The Spartans cut the six-point deficit to one at 15-14 and brought it back within two on multiple occasions but couldn't push past the Pirates.
 
The second-ranked Pirates never trailed in the second stanza and put forth their best set of the match. Park went from hitting .333% in Set One to .550% in Set Two with 14 kills and just three errors. Conversely, the Spartans couldn't manufacture much offense, with five kills on 18 swings (.056) and their lowest attack percentage of the night.
 
Down two sets, the Spartans responded in a big way. Despite trailing by three midway through the third, MBU turned the corner with a 7-0 run. During that stretch, the Spartans invited Park to their block party with four stuffs at the net. The MoBap front row, led by middle blocker Veljko Culibrk, setter David Rudic, and outside hitter Marko Jovanovic, collected eight blocks in the 25-20 Set Three win.
 
While Set Three was the turning point, the momentum didn't completely shift over to the Spartans in Set Four. The two ranked teams battled point-for-point, with MBU reaching the 20-point mark first. Ahead 21-18, the Spartans surrendered a costly 5-0 run to the Pirates. Another Spartan block tied the game at 23-23 before a service error gave Park set- and match-point. Pirate libero Joao Bonanoni returned the favor with a service error to make it 24-all. Freshman Aleksa Mandic delivered a clutch ace to give MBU the one-point advantage, and a triple block by Culibrk, Jovanovic, and Rudic sealed the deal at 26-24 to force a fifth set.
 
Park opened the scoring in the fifth with the first two points. MBU's Aleksa Mandic continued to shine with back-to-back kills to knot it at 5-5. Both teams proceeded to go on separate 4-0 runs to meet back at a 9-9 tie. It was one of five times that the decisive fifth set was tied. MBU briefly took their only lead in the tiebreaker at 12-11. However, Park scored four of the last five points to escape with a 15-13 win.
 
Aside from the final score, No. 12 Missouri Baptist had a slight advantage over Park in nearly every statistical category and held the Pirates to -0.055 hitting in the last three sets. The Spartans led 48-44 in kills, .173-.129 in hitting percentage, 9-8 in aces, and 18-9 in blocks. No. 2 Park finished with a 42-34 edge in digs.
 
MBU's 18 blocks were the most in a single match since 2015, a number also reached against the rival Pirates.
 
Reigning HEART Attacker of the Week, Aleksa Mandic paced the Spartans with a new career-high 20 kills. Joining him in double figures was Auston Bonte with 11. Middle blocker Veljko Culibrk was a force at the net and the service line with a career-high 13 blocks (1 S, 12 A) and five aces.
 
David Rudic posted a double-double with 37 assists and 10 blocks (2 S, 8 A).
 
The Spartans will have another tough test at home as they welcome (RV) Campbellsville University to the SRC on Friday at 4:30 PM.