Vikings Advance to Heart Championship Finals, Defeat Missouri Baptist in Five Sets

Men’s Volleyball | Wed, Mar. 30, 2022

Des Moines, IA – The No.1 ranked Grand View men’s volleyball team began its quest for a Heart Conference Tournament Championship in thrilling fashion on Wednesday night. The Vikings were able to outlast No. 13 Missouri Baptist in the semifinal matchup that went to five sets with scores of 25-19, 21-25, 20-25, 25-20, and 15-12.

Set 1: Grand View University 25 l Missouri Baptist University 19

The Vikings started out the first set on the wrong foot when they faced an early 7-13 deficit after the Spartans went on a 5-0 scoring run. Grand View quickly bounced back, however, and responded with a 6-0 scoring run of its own to even the match at 13-13. The set would remain close through the middle stages until the Vikings gained a slight edge at the 20-17 mark due to a couple of errors on the part of Missouri Baptist. To close out the set, the Vikings rattled off a 3-0 run highlighted by back-to-back solo blocks from Leonardo Annichini (SO/Verona, Italy) and Daniel Wong (SO/Campbell, CA).

Set 2: Grand View University 21 l Missouri Baptist University 25

The second set started very similar to the first with Grand View falling behind 7-10, but another rally from Grand View tied it up at 10-10. The next few points went the way of the Spartans and the Vikings were forced to call a timeout when the score hit 12-16. Despite getting down by as much as five, the Vikings did make a small comeback to cut the deficit to three off a kill by Oscar Manana (SR/Bronx, NY) at the 21-24 mark, but Missouri Baptist won the next point to claim the set.

Set 3: Grand View University 20 l Missouri Baptist University 25

In the third, the two squads battled to an even 9-9 draw to start out. The momentum quickly shifted to the side of Missouri Baptist when the Spartans rallied off six-straight points to put the score at 9-15. Grand View struggled to find a rhythm for the remainder of the set and ultimately fell into 1-2 hole and was a set loss away from dropping the match.

Set 4: Grand View University 25 l Missouri Baptist University 20

For the first time in the match, Grand View claimed an early set lead at 8-4 thanks to a 4-0 scoring streak highlighted by a service ace from Daniel Galili (FR/Shomrat, Israel). The Vikings were able to stave off a determined Spartans attack over the middle stages and a kill from Bayron Valdez (SO/Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) pushed the lead to five at 17-12. Missouri Baptist…