ST. LOUIS - The Petty SRC played host to a top 10 NAIA matchup on Saturday afternoon as the fifth-ranked Spartans welcomed the ninth-ranked Park Pirates to campus, and after falling behind 2-1 Missouri Baptist powered back to come out on top against their Heart of America foe.

No. 9 Park Recap

In front of their home crowd, the Spartans hit a .310 percentage as a team with 14 kills on 29 attempts. Missouri Baptist out hit the Pirates by .053 in the set on their way to a 25-22 win in the first set.

The Spartans lost the next two sets, falling behind 2-1, both scores being 25-20. Missouri Baptist was also trailing 22-19 in the fourth set, but the Spartans rattled off four straight points on their way to a 27-25 victory in the set.

Missouri Baptist took care of business in the fifth and final set, picking up seven kills and watching the Pirates make six errors in the 15-12 set.

The Spartans had a higher hitting percentage than the Pirates throughout the afternoon, led by Micahel Olson, Veljko Culibrk, and Marko Jovanovic with 19, 18, and 16 kills, respectively. David Rudic racked up a total of 52 assists throughout the five-set victory over the No. 9 Pirates.

Culibrk, Johnathan Kreke, and Michael Anderson helped the Spartans out block the Pirates 12-10.

Spartan Stat Leaders

Kills: Michael Olson (19)

Assists: David Rudic (52)

Hitting %: Michael Anderson (.625)

Aces: Marko Jovanovic (4)

Digs: Michael Olson (14)

Blocks: Veljko Culibrk (7.0)

Records:

No. 5 Missouri Baptist: 22-14 (15-2 HAAC)

No. 9 Park: 16-5 (12-4 HAAC)

Next Game

The Spartans return to the court next Friday, Apr. 4 at 7:00 p.m. on the road at Graceland for their final HAAC regular season road contest.

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