Vikings Corral the Mustangs on Senior Night in Four Sets

Men’s Volleyball | Tue, Mar. 21, 2023 at 10:15 PM

Des Moines, IA – The Vikings hosted No. 12 Mount Mercy in their final regular season conference match-up. The Vikings got the 4-set win on senior night with scores of 25-21, 25-23, 25,22, and 25-23. 

Set 1: Grand View University 25 | Mount Mercy University 21

The Vikings and the Mustangs would trade points foreshadowing an exciting match during the first set. Kill by Brendan Edgington (SR/Ankeny, IA ) would tie things up after a brief lead by the Mustangs. The Vikings would begin to pull away from Mount Mercy after a kill from Daniel Galili (SO/Shomrat, Israel) forcing the Mustangs into a timeout trailing 17-13. Back-to-back kills from Daniel Wong (SR/Campbell, CA ) would seal the first set in the Viking’s favor 25-21. 

Set 2: Grand View University 23 | Mount Mercy University 25

The second set would start much like the first, as the Vikings and Mustangs would trade points. Wong would get another point for the team and things would favor the Vikings 5-3. The Mustangs would begin to build a lead as they capitalized on errors, 12-9. The Vikings would call a timeout as they trailed 16-12 after another error. An ace from the Mustangs would grow their lead to 21-15, and Coach Nogueria would call a timeout hoping to save the Mustang’s equalizer. An attack error would give the Mustangs the tie of sets 1-1 with a score of 25-23. 

Set 3: Grand View University 25 | Mount Mercy University 22

The third set would be the Viking’s slowest start, and they would find themselves trailing 8-3 early on. The Vikings would go on a tear as Galili would get a kill assisted by Adalberto Gonzalez (SO/Devurge, Dominican Republic), followed by two aces from Galili, and Wong would force Mount Mercy into a timeout as they only led by 1. Bayron Valdez (JR/Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) would tie things up 11 all with a kill, and the Vikings would be their late rally. Edgington grabbed another kill making the score 18-16 in favor of the Mustangs. Wong got an ace, followed by a kill from Galili and another ace as they pulled ahead 21-19. The Viking’s last push at the end of set 3 would seal it in their favor 25-22, pulling ahead overall 2-1. 

Set 4: Grand View University 25 | Mount Mercy University 23

The fourth and final set would go back and forth as well as the theme of the contest. A Valdez kill would put them ahead 10-9. Valdez would begin to get hot, and he would see back-to-back…