Men's Volleyball Overcomes Early Deficit in Road Win Over Health Sciences & Pharmacy

Marshall, Mo., (March 5, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College men's volleyball team traveled to St. Louis, Mo., Tuesday evening, for a Heart of America Athletic Conference match against Health Sciences & Pharmacy (Mo.).  The Vikings fell behind early, but won the match by scores of 33-35, 25-22, 25-18, 25-15.

Missouri Valley dropped into a deficit at the start of the first game, trailing, 4-1.  One kill from Freshman Outside Hitter Andrey Bastos (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), along with an ace from Sophomore Right Side Luca Hasse (Paderborn, Germany) and a block from Freshman Outside Hitter Davi Azevedo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) helped close the gap to 7-6.  The Vikings won four-straight points over a stretch of play, as Hasse put down two-straight kills and Azevedo added an ace, to move the team ahead, 10-8.  The two teams traded points until one kill from Azevedo, followed by a Health Sciences & Pharmacy error and block from Senior Outside Hitter Oscar Manana (The Bronx, N.Y.) and Junior Libero Leonardo Leao (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) made it a 17-13 score.  Five of the next six points were won by UHSP to pull the teams into an 18-18 tie.  One kill from Hasse helped MVC hold a 21-19 lead, but Health Sciences & Pharmacy won four-straight to pull in front, 23-21.  The two teams traded points over the next stretch, and MVC held its first game-point, at 26-25, after a block from Manana and Leao.  The teams went back-and-forth from there.  Missouri Valley held five more game-points, through a 33-32 score.  However, UHSP kept countering, and eventually won three-straight to end the game, and top Missouri Valley, 35-33.

Game two started with the teams trading points, as Hasse finished off three early kills, to go with one kill from Bastos to help the Vikings stay within a 6-5 deficit.  Health Sciences & Pharmacy won the next three points to make it a 9-5 score, and eventually led, 14-8.  Missouri Valley took control from there, going on a seven-point run.  Bastos had three kills, while Senior Middle Blocker Daniel Isernhagen (Curitiba, Brazil) added two blocks, teaming up with Hasse on one occasion, to help the team hold a 16-14 advantage.  Another three-straight points, featuring one kill and one ace from Hasse and one kill from Bastos, put MVC in front by a 19-15 score.  Health Sciences & Pharmacy came back to make it a 20-20 tie, and the teams traded points through 22-22.  Azevedo then put down back-to-back kills making it game-point, and Hasse ended it with one more kill to give Missouri Valley a 25-22 win.

With the match tied at 1-1 in games won, the Vikings worked out to an early advantage in game three.  Isernhagen and Bastos each put down two kills, then teamed up on a block.  Hasse and Manana each had one kill during the early run as the score sat at 7-3.  One more kill from both Bastos and Azevedo put the lead at 9-5, but UHSP won three-straight to trail, 9-8.  Health Sciences & Pharmacy stayed close, working keeping its deficit to 14-13.  Missouri Valley won the next four points, as both Bastos and Isernhagen had one kill to stretch the advantage to 18-13.  The teams traded points through the rest of the game, which included one late kill from Hasse and Bastos to reach game-point.  One more error from UHSP closed out the game, 25-18, in favor of the Vikings.  Missouri Valley hit at a .342 percentage in the game.

Points were traded at the start of the fourth game, which included one kill from Azevedo to help keep it a 4-4 tie.  Missouri Valley followed by taking seven-straight points.  Azevedo finished off two kills, while Bastos and Leao had one kill each through an 11-4 score.  Another three-in-row, all on Health Sciences & Pharmacy errors, opened up a 14-5 lead.  Azevedo, Hasse and Bastos had one kill each through the next stretch of play to increase the lead to 18-9.  A double-digit advantage was reached after two-straight UHSP errors made it 21-11.  Hasse adde an ace, while Isernhagen had one kill.  The match ended on a block from Sophomore Middle Blocker Vasil Stoimenv (Pazardzhik, Bulgaria) to finish out a 25-15 win in the game, and a 3-1 victory in the match.

Bastos led with a double-double of 20 kills, on a .364 hitting percentage, and 11 digs.  Hasse totaled a double-double of 15 kills and 10 digs, to go with four aces,, while Azevedo led in digs with 17, and added 11 kills to finish with a double-double.  Also registering a double-double was Leao who had 45 assists and 10 digs.  As a team, Missouri Valley had 65 digs and 11 total blocks.

The win moves Missouri Valley to 9-2 overall, and 4-2 in the Heart, while Health Sciences & Pharmacy drops to 11-5 on the season and 2-4 in the conference.

Up next, the Viking men's volleyball team will host Graceland (Iowa) in a Heart match, Friday at 7 p.m., inside the Burns Athletic Complex.

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ABOUT MISSOURI VALLEY COLLEGE

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.