No. 12 Men's Volleyball Sweeps Past Kansas Wesleyan at Home

Marshall, Mo., (Feb. 28, 2025)- The No. 12 Missouri Valley College men's volleyball team hosted Kansas Wesleyan in a Heart of America Athletic Conference match inside the Burns Athletic Complex, Friday evening. The Vikings swept past the Coyotes, winning by scores of 25-20, 25-18, 25-21.

Missouri Valley took an early lead in the first game, as Senior Middle Blocker Arthur Martenelli (Curitiba, Brazil) had a kill and a solo block, followed with two kills each from Junior Opposite Luca Hasse (Paderborn, Germany) and Sophomore Outside Hitter Pierro Porras (Lima, Peru) to make it an 8-3 score. The Vikings won four of the next six points, using a kill from Sophomore Middle Blocker Joao Tavares (Sao Paulo, Brazil), an ace by Hasse and two KWU errors, extending their lead 12-6. The Coyotes cut into their deficit winning five-straight points to keep the scoreboard close, 13-11. Points were traded over the next stretch of play, which included one kill each from Hasse, Porras and Junior Opposite Samuel Essilfie (Tema, Ghana) holding MVC's lead, 17-14. Kansas Wesleyan won five of seven points during a stretch, using three errors by the Vikings to cut the gap down to 22-20. However, Missouri Valley won the last four points of game one, with a kill from Tavares and back-to-back kills from Essilfie to win the opener, 25-21.

Game two started with Missouri Valley falling behind by a 6-3 score. The Vikings worked back into the game, using two kills each from Tavares and Hasse to cut into their deficit, 10-8. The score was eventually tied at 11-11, but MVC followed with a long run winning eight-straight points featuring four KWU errors, two kills from Martenelli, a kill from Hasse and an ace by Essilfie to move on top, 16-12. Kansas Wesleyan closed the gap using a few errors from the Vikings, making it a 20-17 score, but Missouri Valley answered back winning the next four points with two kills from Hasse and another kill from Essilfie. An error from the Coyotes gave the team match-point and one more kill from Martenelli closed out game two, 25-18, for Missouri Valley. 

Going for a sweep in game three, the Vikings started in a 5-1 deficit. Missouri Valley chipped down its deficit over the next stretch of play, using a kill from Essilfie and a kill and an ace from Porras, to eventually trail 8-6. The two teams traded points through a 14-14 score, which included four kills from Hasse and three KWU errors. The Vikings won the next seven points, as Porras had one kill, Essilfie totaled three kills and Freshman Outside Hitter Tymoteusz Zadeberny (Gilwice, Poland) put down an ace to hold a 20-16 advantage. Kansas Wesleyan tried to climb back late in the game winning five of the next eight points, but a solo block from Martenelli and a kill from Freshman Middle Blocker Martin Tseyera (Salta, Argentina) ended the game at 25-21 for the Viking sweep.

Leading the team was Hasse with 15 kills, one ace and five digs. Essilfie followed with 12 kills, 16 digs and an ace, while Porras had seven kills. Martenelli added six kills and three solo blocks. Senior Setter Lucas Rodrigues (Balnelariu Cambriu, Brazil) and Freshman Setter Matheus Curi (Ribierao Preto, Brazil) finished with 16 and 17 assists respectively. Missouri Valley limited KWU to a 0.069 hitting percentage, with six total blocks.

The win moves Missouri Valley to 6-2 on the season and 2-2 in the Heart, while Kansas Wesleyan drops to 4-7 overall and 1-4 in the conference.

Up next, the Viking men's volleyball team will host UHSP (Mo.) in a Heart match, Saturday at 1 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.