Women's Volleyball Tops Graceland At Home

Marshall, Mo., (Sept. 21, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College women's volleyball team welcomed in Graceland (Iowa) for a Heart of America Athletic Conference match inside the Burns Athletic Complex Saturday afternoon.  The Vikings built up an early lead, and won in four games by scores of 25-14, 26-24, 27-29, 25-12.

Play in the opening game featured Missouri Valley going in front at the start and building a lead.  A five-point run was started on one kill from Senior Middle Blocker Alanah Best (Lima, Peru), while one kill from both Senior Outside Hitter Ana Oro (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Junior Outside Hitter Blanca Arciniega Palma (El Paso, Texas) to put the advantage at 6-2.  Graceland worked down its deficit over the next stretch of play, and eventually trailed, 12-10.  Oro then put down three-straight kills, to make it a 15-10 score.  Palma added another kill to put the lead at 19-12, while a four-point run that featured one kill from both Senior Outside Hitter Ksenija Simun (Kotor, Montenegro) and Palma, along with an ace from Junior Defensive Specialist Avery Crain (Shell Knob, Mo.) moved the team to game-point, 24-13.  One final kill from Junior Middle Blocker Kinga Ramonowicz (Krepiec, Poland) ended a 25-14 win for the Vikings.

Graceland went on top early in the second game, winning five-straight points to make it a 5-1 advantage.  One kill from Oro, followed by Best teaming up with both Senior Opposite Bea Bartolome (Madrid, Spain) and Oro on a pair of blocks helped tie the teams at 5-5.  Six-straight points later in the game, including one kill from Simun and two blocks from Senior Middle Hitter Emma Schulte (Marshall, Mo.) allowed MVC to hold a 13-10 lead.  The Yellowjackets answered, and won four-straight to briefly move ahead, 14-13.  The Vikings responded by taking five-straight points, including two kills from Oro and one kill from Schulte, to go back on top, 18-14.  Graceland continued to stay in the game, and won seven of eight points in a late stretch to sit with a 23-20 advantage.  The Yellowjackets held game-point, 24-22, but MVC rallied from there.  A block from Schulte and Bartolome tied the teams at 24-24, and one final kill from Schulte ended the second game, 26-24, in favor of Missouri Valley.

Going for the sweep in the third game, the Vikings used a five-point run, with two kills from Schulte and one kill each from Simun and Oro, to move ahead, 7-4.  Later, four-straight points, which included an Oro ace, stretched the lead out to 12-8.  Graceland chipped away at its deficit from there, and eventually took an 18-17 advantage.  Missouri Valley came back again, and won six of the next seven points.  A total of six GU errors helped push the score to 23-20.  The Vikings reached match-point, at 24-20, on a Ramonowicz kill, but the Yellowjackets closed the game with a run.  Five-straight points won by Graceland allowed the team to sit with game-point, 25-24.  Missouri Valley extended the game, but GU eventually won the final three points to make it a 29-27 score, and send the match into a fourth game.

The two teams traded points through a 6-6 score in the fourth game.  Missouri Valley then won five of the next six points, which included three Simun kills and one ace from Senior Setter Mencia Medio (Gijon, Spain) to make it an 11-7 lead.  The Vikings broke open the game from there, going on an 11-point run.  Junior Setter Ana Santos (Curitiba, Brazil) finished off four-straight aces in the run, while the stretch was capped on an Oro kill to make it 22-8.  Palma had one more kill, and the final two points came off of GU errors and Missouri Valley won the game, 25-12, to win the match.  The Vikings hit at a match-high .526 percentage in the game.

Oro led with 16 kills and eight digs.  Simun totaled 13 kills, on a .345 hitting percentage, to go with 5 digs.  Santos finished with 30 assists to go with four kills and four aces.  Junior Defensive Specialist Ana Franco (Cascais, Portugal) led with 19 digs.  Missouri Valley had seven blocks and seven aces as a team.

Missouri Valley improves to 10-5 overall and 2-0 with the win.  Graceland drops to 1-12 on the season and 0-4 in the Heart.  Missouri Valley won a non-conference match against the Yellowjackets in four games, back on Aug. 24.

Up next, the Viking women's volleyball team travels to Olathe, Kan., for a Heart contest with MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Tuesday 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.