No. 12 Men's Volleyball Sweeps to Win Over Culver-Stockton

Canton, Mo., (March 19, 2024)- The No. 12 Missouri Valley College men's volleyball team traveled to Canton, Mo., for a Heart of America Athletic Conference match with Culver-Stockton (Mo.) Tuesday evening.  The Vikings swept their way to victory by scores of 25-17, 25-22, 25-16.

The opening game featured Missouri Valley moving on top as Freshman Outside Hitter Benjamin Webb (Auckland, New Zealand) and Sophomore Right Side Luca Hasse (Paderborn, Germany) each had two early kills, while Freshman Middle Blocker Samuel Stafford (Taringa, Australia) added another kill.  Hasse put down an ace to end the early stretch and give MVC a 7-2 advantage.  Culver-Stockton closed the gap to 9-6, but the Vikings won four of the next five points.  Hasse had two kills and Junior Outside Hitter Georgi Vlahov (Sofia, Bulgaria) finished off an ace to put the score at 13-7.  The two teams traded points over the next stretch of play, with Missouri Valley staying on top, 17-12.  Vlahov and Stafford teamed up on a block to help put the lead to 19-12.  Vlahov teamed up with Junior Middle Blocker Arhur Martineli (Curitiba, Brazil) on another block, and Martineli landed one kill to make it 22-26.  Two-straight CSC errors led to game-point, and one more block from the pair of Webb and Stafford ended the game, 25-17, in favor of the Vikings.

The two teams traded points at the start of the second game, with Culver-Stockton eventually sitting in front, 8-6.  The Vikings responded with four-straight points, helped by one kill from Hasse, who teamed up with Martenli on a block to bring the team in front, 10-8.  The Wildcats answered back to win four of the next five points and push ahead, 12-11.  One kill from Hasse, along with a block from Junior Libero Leonardo Leao (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Stafford gave MVC the lead once against, 14-13.  The teams went back-and-forth over the next stretch of play, and the score was tied at 19-19.  Back-to-back kills from Hasse and Webb, followed by an ace by Martineli gave the Vikings a 22-19 advantage.  One more kill each from Hasse and Webb made it game-point, and Freshman Middle Blocker Luiz Marinelo (Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil) landed the game-ending kill to finish out a 25-22 win.

Missouri Valley took control early in the third game as two kills from Stafford, one kill from Webb and Marinelo, one ace from Martineli and a block from Marinelo and Stafford helped the team hold a 12-3 lead.  The advantage reached double-digits after two-straight blocks from the pair of Martineli and Hasse eventually made it an 18-8 score.  The gap stretched out to 22-11, but CSC won four-straight to trail, 22-15.  The final three points for the Vikings all came from Culver-Stockton errors, and Missouri Valley earned a 25-16 win to sweep the match.  The Wildcats were limited to a -.258 hitting percentage in the game.

Hasse led with 11 kills on a .556 hitting percentage to go with eight assists and four digs.  Webb totaled eight kills and six digs, while Stafford had seven kills on a .545 hitting percentage.  Leao led with 20 assists, while Sophomore Outside Hitter Ruben Baquero (Madrid, Spain) had seven digs.  Missouri Valley had 10 blocks and four aces as a team.

Missouri Valley  improves to 13-3 overall and 7-3 in the Heart.  Culver-Stockton drops to 3-19 on the season and 0-10 in the conference.  Missouri Valley won the previous match up, back on Feb. 20, by scores of 25-18, 25-17, 25-21, and swept the regular season matches.

Up next, the Viking men's volleyball team travels to Oskaloosa, Iowa, to play William Penn (Iowa) in a Heart match, Friday at 7 p.m.

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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.