No. 1 Vanguard Sneaks Past Vikings in Four Close Sets

Men’s Volleyball | Thu, Mar. 16, 2023 at 3:45 PM

Costa Mesa, CA- Grand View finished their spring break trip to California with one more matchup. They took the court against the number one team in the country, Vanguard University. After a back-and-forth battle, the Vikings fall to Vanguard in 4-sets with scores of 25-20, 13-25, 22-25, and 20-25

Set 1: Grand View University 25 | Vanguard University 20

After a slow start to the first set, the Vikings were able to force several Vanguards before Daniel Galili (SO/Shomrat, Israel) was able to grab the first Viking kill. This sparked a run that would give the Vikings an 11-10 lead with three kills from Bayron Valdez (JR/Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) and a Zeo Meyer (JR/Wheaton, IL ) ace. After trading some points Valdez picked up an ace that forced a Vanguard timeout to try and regroup. The Vikings did not slow down after the timeout quickly extending their lead with another ace this time from Galili followed by a Nicolas Vattier (SO/Santiago, Chile) kill. After a late surge from Vanguard to try and tie the game they were unsuccessful as Valdez iced the first set with an ace to give the Vikings a set 1 win, 25-20. 

Set 2: Grand View University 13 | Vanguard University 25

Vikings kept things going from the first set as they quickly forced a Vanguard attack error giving the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Vanguard would put together a run extending their lead to 6 points, 8-2, before the Vikings took a timeout to try and get back on track. Galili would get the Vikings back on track as he picked a kill shortly after the timeout. Teammates Adalberto Gonzalez (SO/Devurge, Dominican Republic) and Valdez joined in on the fun each adding a kill of their own. Valdez would collect a handful of kills down the stretch, but it would not be enough to help the Vikings close out set number two as Vanguard steals the set 25-13. 

Set 3: Grand View University 22 | Vanguard University 25

Valdez started set 3 with a boom as he collected the first two Viking kills of the set. The teams would trade points back and forth before Grand View took a timeout to regroup and prepare for another run. Valdez would pick up two kills after the timeout along with Daniel Wong (SR/Campbell, CA ) adding on a kill. This sparked a Viking run that saw them get within 3 points 17-20 before forcing Vanguard to take a timeout. Valdez picked up three kills in this stretch and added another after the timeout. Galili would…