No. 12 Men's Volleyball Sweeps Kansas Wesleyan at Home

Marshall, Mo., (March 15, 2024)- The No. 12 Missouri Valley College men's volleyball hosted Kansas Wesleyan, Friday evening for a non-conference game inside the Burns Athletic Complex. The Vikings swept KWU by scores of 25-11, 25-22, 25-19.

The first game started with Missouri Valley taking an early lead, as Freshman Middle Blocker Samuel Stafford (Taringa, Australia) put down a solo block, and then teamed up with Junior Outside Hitter Georgi Vlahov (Sofia, Bulgaria) to help MVC hold a 2-1 advantage. The Vikings gradually built up an 8-4 lead, where Vlahov landed an ace, and Sophomore Middle Blocker Vasil Stoimenov (Pazardzhik, Bulgaria) and Freshman Outside Hitter Benjamin Webb (Auckland, New Zealand) had one kill each. Missouri Valley won five of the next six points, helped by a kill each from Stoimenov, Webb, and Junior Libero Leonardo Leao (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), to extend their lead to 13-5. The Vikings continued to pull away late in the game, using a few attack errors by KWU, two kills by Vlahov, and an ace by Sophomore Right Side Luca Hasse (Paderborn, Germany) to make it 19-8. MVC closed out the game winning six of nine points, with back-to-back solo blocks from Stafford, one kill by Senior Middle Blocker Daniel Isernhagen (Curitiba, Brazil), and three kills from Webb to seal a 25-11 win in game one.

The two teams traded points at the start of the second game, through a 5-5 score, as Stoimenov, Webb and Hasses each had one kill. Kansas Wesleyan went in front, but Missouri Valley answered back winning five-straight points to take the lead, including three errors by KWU, an ace by Hasse and a kill from Vlahov to make it an 11-8 score. Points were traded over the next stretch of play and Kansas Wesleyan worked back to tie the game at 18-18. Hasse had back-to-back kills to put the Vikings on top. Webb added three more kills, and a final kill from Hasse helped to finish off the second game, 25-22.

The third game started with the teams trading points early. Vlahov, Junior Middle Blocker Arthur Martineli (Curitiba, Brazil) had one kill each, while Stafford teamed up with Junior Setter Lucas Rodrigues (Balnelariu, Cambriu, Brazil) to make a 6-6 score. Kansas Wesleyan moved ahead by taking four-straight points and built up a 15-10 advantage. Missouri Valley responded, as Hasse landed a kill and had a solo block, along with a kill from Webb to cut the deficit to 16-13. The Vikings eventually went on top after winning six-straight points using a few errors by KWU, two kills each from Martineli and Hasse, whom both also teamed up on a block to hold a 19-17 advantage. Missouri Valley then won the last five points of the match, where Hasse had one kill and Vlahov landed two kills to complete a 25-19 win in the game and sweep the match.

Leading the team was Webb with 13 kills, and a 0.500 hitting percentage. Hasse followed with 11 kills, three aces and two solo blocks. Vlahov finished with 9 kills, while Stoimenov had six kills. Rodrigues led with 19 assists, followed by Leao with 18 assists. Missouri Valley finished with 10 blocks in the match, while limiting Kansas Wesleyan to a 0.063 hitting percentage.

Missouri Valley improves to 12-3 overall. Kansas Wesleyan drops to 11-9 on the season.

Up next, the Vikings men's volleyball team will travel to Canton, Mo. for a Heart match with Culver-Stockton (Mo.), Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Box Score- Click Here

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.