Men’s Volleyball | Sat, Apr. 2, 2022
Des Moines, IA – The No.1 ranked Grand View men’s volleyball team captured the Heart Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon in dominating fashion. The Vikings swept the No. 2 seed William Penn University with scores of 25-22, 25-18, and 25-23.
Set 1: Grand View University 25 l William Penn University 22
The beginning of the first set was competitive as the two squads matched each other point-for-point all the way to a 11-11 draw after Bayron Valdez (SO/Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) scored a kill. Grand View gained some slight breathing room in the middle stages with a two-point advantage at the 18-16 mark due to a Daniel Wong (SO/Campbell, CA) kill. The Vikings were able to hold off the William Penn attack and closed out their first set victory on back-to-back kills from Wong and Leonardo Annichini (SO/Verona, Italy).
Set 2: Grand View University 25 l William Penn University 18
In the second set, it was another close battle to start out, but the Vikings found themselves down 9-11. Grand View immediately countered, however, with a 5-0 scoring run to claim the lead at 14-11. With momentum now on their side, the Vikings were able to put together a pair of 3-0 scoring runs towards the end of the set, which made the score 24-16. After a couple of scores from the Statesmen, Daniel Galili (FR/Shomrat, Israel) put the set away by sending home a kill.
Set 3: Grand View University 25 l William Penn University 23
Grand View got out to a fast start in the third and went up by three off another kill from Wong at the 7-4 point. William Penn ended up taking the lead shortly after, but another key scoring run from the Vikings, capped by a Leonardo Annichini kill, put them back in front at 15-14. The Vikings offense would find its rhythm playing through Annichini and increased their lead to three as another kill made it 23-19. William Penn, however, didn’t go away and pulled within one point after a couple of miscues from Grand View on match points. The Vikings stayed resilient though and won the set and match off a service error.
Key Players…
On the offensive side, Daniel Galili led the way with nine kills for the Vikings. Oscar Manana (SR/Bronx, NY) and Daniel Wong were next in line with each player registering seven kills. On defense, Wong showed up big with two solo blocks and Galili provided four block assists.
Up Next…
The Vikings await to see their draw for the NAIA…
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