No. 11 Men's Volleyball Tops No. 4 Missouri Baptist at Home

Marshall, Mo., (March 11, 2025)- The No. 11 Missouri Valley College men's volleyball team hosted No. 4 Missouri Baptist in a Heart of America Athletic Conference South Division match Tuesday evening inside the Burns Athletic Complex.  The Vikings came back from an early deficit to earn a win by scores of 17-25, 25-19, 28-26, 25-21.

Game one started with Missouri Baptist going in front early, out to a 5-2 score.  Senior Setter Lucas Rodrigues (Balnelariu Cambriu, Brazil) followed with a solo block, and the pair of Sophomore Middle Blocker Joao Taveres (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Junior Opposite Samuel Essilfie (Tema, Ghana) added another block to put MVC in a 5-4 deficit.  The two teams traded points over the next stretch of play, as Junior Opposite Luca Hasse (Paderborn, Germany) landed a pair of kills and both Essilfie and Sophomore Outside Hitter Davi Azevedo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) each added one kill to put the Vikings in an 11-10 gap.  The Spartans responded by taking five of the next six points to stretch their advantage out to 16-11.  Missouri Valley eventually trailed by a 19-13 score, then had three kills from Azevedo to help pull back to 20-16.  Missouri Baptist closed the game from there, winning five of the final six points to win, 25-17.

The two teams traded points through a stretch early in game two, as Essilfie put down three kills, Sophomore Outside Hitter Andrey Bastos (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) added two kills and Taveres had one kill to help Missouri Valley move ahead, 7-6.  The Vikings won five-straight points, featuring one kill from both Azevedo and Tavares, along with a solo block from Azevedo and the pair of Taveres and Essilfie created another block to help build a 12-7 lead.  Missouri Baptist responded to win five of the next six points, and make it a 13-12 score.  The Spartans eventually went in front, 18-16.  Missouri Valley then produced a pair of late runs, the first a four-point stretch that had Senior Middle Blocker Arthur Martenelli (Curitiba, Brazil) landing one kill, to go with a solo block and another block with Essilfie to send MVC in front, 20-18.  The Vikings then went on a five-point run to close the game, as four MBU errors, including one block from Taveres, helped the team reach game-point.  Bastos ended the second game with a kill, and Missouri Valley won, 25-19, to tie the match at 1-1 in games.  The Spartans were held to a .000 hitting percentage.

Missouri Baptist worked out to a lead at the start of game three, at 7-3.  The two teams traded points over a stretch, as a Bastos kill put MVC in a 13-11 deficit.  Missouri Valley won five of six points midway through the game, as Rodrigues and Martenelli teamed up on a block, then Bastos and Azevedo landed back-to-back kills, sending the team ahead, 16-15.  Another kill from Azevedo made it a 19-18 score, but the Spartans won four-straight points to push ahead, 22-19.  The Vikings came back with three-straight points, as Rodrigues and Taveres finished off a block, and Essilfie had one kill to tie the teams at 22-22.  Missouri Baptist won the next two points, and held game-point for the first time, 24-22.  Bastos put down one kill to tie the score at 24-24, and MVC held off another game-point situation for the Spartans, as a service error and a Bastos kill put Missouri Valley ahead, 26-25.  Missouri Baptist brought the game into another tie, at 26-26, but the final two points were won by the Vikings.  Martenelli finished off a kill, and Essilfie gave MVC the win with one more kill, as the score ended at 28-26, and the Vikings held a 2-1 advantage in games.

Points were traded to open the fourth game, as Martenelli, Azevedo and Bastos each had two kills to help Missouri Valley hold a 9-8 lead.  The Vikings won five-straight points later in the game, which featured a solo block and one kill from Essilfie, to make it a 16-11 score.  Missouri Baptist chipped away at its deficit, and eventually trailed, 21-20.  Essilfie responded with another kill, then teamed up with Martenelli on a block.  Martenelli added a solo block that gave Missouri Valley match-point, and the only ace of the contest for MVC, by Bastos, ended the game, 25-21, and gave the Vikings a win in the match, 3-1 in games.  Missouri Valley hit at a match-high .393 percentage in the game.

Azevedo led with 15 kills, on a .360 hitting percentage, and added six digs.  Bastos had 11 kills on a .529 hitting percentage, and Essilfie added 10 kills.  Rodrigues led with 44 assists and also led with nine digs.  Senior Libero Leonardo Leao (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) had eight digs.  Missouri Valley totaled 13 blocks in the game.

Missouri Valley improves to 10-2 overall and 6-2 in the Heart.  Missouri Baptist drops to 14-4 on the season and 9-2 in the Heart.

Up next, the Viking men's volleyball team travels to Canton, Mo., for a Heart South Division contest with Culver-Stockton (Mo.), Thursday 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.