No. 5 Men's Volleyball Tops No. 6 Missouri Baptist on the Road

Marshall, Mo., (Feb. 10, 2026)- The No. 5 Missouri Valley College men's volleyball team opened defense of their Heart of America Athletic conference title with a road conference contest in St. Louis, Mo., against No. 6 Missouri Baptist, Tuesday evening.  The Vikings trailed early, but came back to win by scores of 14-25, 25-15, 25-13, 25-20.

Missouri Valley went in front at the start of the first game, as Junior Outside Hitter Pierro Porras (Lima, Peru) and Junior Outside Hitter Andrey Bastos (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) each landed one kill to give the team a 3-1 lead.  Missouri Baptist answered with five-straight points to pull ahead, 6-3.  The Vikings deficit grew over the next stretch, out to a 10-5 score.  The team traded points, as Junior Middle Blocker Joao Tavares (Parana, Brazil) and Senior Opposite Luca Hasse (Paderborn, Germany) each added one kill to keep the gap at 14-9 for the Vikings.  One kill from Freshman Outside Hitter Loan Fargier, followed by a kill from Tavares made it a 16-11 score, but the Spartans began to pull away through the rest of the game.  Missouri Baptist won four of five points to lead, 21-12, then ended the game on a three-point run to finish out a 25-14 score and move in front, 1-0, in the match.

The two teams traded points to begin play in the second game.  Hasse had one kill, while Tavares and Fargier teamed up on a block to help keep the score tied at 3-3.  The Vikings responded with a five-point run, as Tavares added one kill, Fargier put down a solo block and Hasse added two aces during the stretch, to make it 8-3.  Missouri Baptist cut down its deficit to 10-7, but MVC began to gradually increase its lead over the next stretch of play.  Bastos landed one kill, and added an ace, while Fargier put down one kill and the pair of Hasse and Tavares finished off a block to put the lead at 16-9.  The Spartans won the next three points to work down their deficit and trail, 16-12.  Missouri Valley followed with a long run to take control.  Fargier had two kills, Hasse added two aces, and Freshman Outside Hitter Bart Mulder (Hoogeveen, Netherlands) moved the team to game-point on a kill, as the team won nine-straight points.  A service ace by MBU ended the game, 25-15, and tied the match at 1-1 overall.

The Vikings took control of the third game early, using two kills from Hasse and one kill by Bastos to sit in front, 5-1.  Fargier and Tavares each added one kill through an 8-4 score, but Missouri Baptist chipped away at its deficit to trail 10-9 later in the game.  Missouri Valley stayed in front, and added to its lead with four-straight points.  Bastos had one kill and a block from Senior Middle Blocker Arthur Martenelli (Curitiba, Brazil) and Fargier helped push the advantage to 14-9.  The Vikings went on another run to help build up a double-digit gap.  Fargier landed two kills, Tavares had one kill and Hasse put down an ace as the team won seven of eight points to make it a 22-12 score.  After MBU won the next point, the Vikings closed with the final three points of the game.  Tavares and Mulder both finished off one kill apiece, and an ace by Tavares closed a 25-13 win for MVC, and moved the team to a 2-1 advantage in the match.  Missouri Valley hit at a match-high .429 percentage in the game.

Points were traded to open the fourth game, as Fargier totaled two kills, and both Hasse and Mulder added one kill each to keep Missouri Valley ahead, 7-6.  Missouri Baptist moved in front, by a 10-8 score, after taking four of the next five points.  Missouri Valley trailed over the next stretch of play, eventually sitting in an 18-13 deficit.  The team came back to win nine-straight points.  Bastos started the run with a kill and solo block.  Martenelli also added one kill, and teamed up with Hasse on a block.  Fargier had one kill and the run put MVC ahead, 22-18.  The Vikings held off the Spartans late, and used one kill from Fargier to reach match-point.  Sophomore Libero Pietro Polidoro (Santo Andre, Brazil) ended the contest with an ace, as Missouri Valley won the fourth game, 25-20, and ended the match by a 3-1 margin in games.

Fargier led with 13 kills, on a .579 hitting percentage, to go with eight digs.  Tavares added eight kills.  Hasse had seven kills and five aces, while Bastos added seven kills.  Sophomore Setter Leonardo Goncalves (Ribierao Preto, Brazil) led with 26 assists, and Freshman Setter Leonardo Poiatti (Sao Paulo, Brazil) added 10 assists.  Missouri Valley had seven blocks as a team and eight total aces.

Missouri Valley improves to 8-0 overall and 1-0 in the Heart.  Missouri Baptist drops to 5-4 on the season and 0-1 in the conference.

Up next, the Viking men's volleyball team will host No. 8 Park (Mo.) in a Heart contest, Saturday at 2 p.m., inside the Burns Athletic Complex.

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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.