Men's Volleyball Moves to 3-3 Record After HOA Challenge
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Brescia Men’s Volleyball team after starting their season 1-1, traveled to St. Louis for the Heart of America Challenge. The Bearcats ended even on the weekend at 2-2 to extend their overall record to 3-3 on the season.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | T |
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25 | 19 | 25 | 20 | 13 | 2 |
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22 | 25 | 21 | 25 | 15 | 3 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
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18 | 19 | 21 | 0 |
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25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
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23 | 16 | 23 | 0 |
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25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
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21 | 16 | 26 | 16 | 1 |
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25 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 3 |
Team Stats
#6 Missouri Baptist
| Game Statistics | Brescia | #6 Missouri Baptist |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | .139 | .222 |
| Blocks | 13.0 | 9.0 |
| Digs | 37 | 41 |
| Aces | 6 | 11 |
Culver-Stockton (MO)
| Game Statistics | Culver-Stockton (MO) | Brescia |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | .056 | .403 |
| Blocks | 3.0 | 9.0 |
| Digs | 16 | 14 |
| Aces | 7 | 5 |
Graceland
| Game Statistics | Graceland | Brescia |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | .124 | .236 |
| Blocks | 5.0 | 8.0 |
| Digs | 39 | 43 |
| Aces | 2 | 3 |
Brescia
UHSP
| Game Statistics | Brescia | UHSP |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | .037 | .160 |
| Blocks | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Digs | 41 | 50 |
| Aces | 5 | 9 |
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Brescia Men's Volleyball team after starting their season 1-1, traveled to St. Louis for the Heart of America Challenge. The Bearcats ended even on the weekend at 2-2 to extend their overall record to 3-3 on the season.
First up, the Bearcats took on the 6th ranked Spartans of Missouri Baptist University. The Bearcats came out strong taking the first set 25-22 and were led by outside hitter Haris Hasicevic with four kills in the set. With a team hitting percentage of .333, the Bearcats were looking for an upset.
That would not to be the case as the Spartans responded with the energy that gave them the respect for their 6th place ranking, taking the second set, 25-19. In a back-and-forth third set, the Bearcats puledl ahead late to capture the next set, 25-21. Again, MBU responded by taking the lead early and never letting it go to win set four, 25-20. This would set the stage for a fifth set battle. MBU started the set on a 5-1 run as they looked to cling to their ranking. After a kill by freshman, Malo Vandewalle, the Bearcats would trade point for point until late in the set. With the Bearcats down, 10-14, Miguel Pereira would go back to the service line and pulled the Bearcats within one, forcing a Spartans timeout. After the 90 second break, the Spartans of MBU captured the final point of the match, winning the final set, 15-13.
Brescia was led by Hasicevic who bombed 10 kills on 25 attempts with only three errors for a hitting percentage of .280, Also helping the Bearcats in this epic battle was Junior setter, Finn Berger, and Freshman setter, Will Hernandez, each tallying 15 assists in the match. Sophomore Middle Blocker, Joaquin Palacios, led the Bearcats in blocking with nine total blocks. On the defensive side, defensive specialist Miguel Veloso, led the team in digs with 12.
"These are the types of matches I wanted for our young team. It shows me how much fight our guys have. I am very happy about our play in this match." (Coach Forbes).
After the heart break loss to MBU, the Bearcats moved on to Culver-Stockton. BU came out strong and overpowered CSU winning the match in three straight sets with scores of 25-18,25-19, and 25-21. A well-rounded effort offensively in the win as five Bearcats tabbed kills: Malo Vanderwalle (10), Palacios (6), Zerwes (6), M. Yildiz (6) and Hasicevic (4). Berger was the assist leader with 21 assists, and Veloso led the team in digs with 7.
"I really like how we responded after that tough loss; we are a young team, and we are going to go through pecks and valleys. Today was a great day for us to get better at everything" (Coach Forbes)
Day two of the HOA challenge started with the Bearcats facing Graceland College. The Bearcats would secure the match with their second straight three set sweep in the victory as they extended their record to 3-2. Vandewalle, again, led the team in kills with nine, as the freshman right side from the Netherlands, Remi Pit, added eight to aid the Bearcats win. Vandewalle led the team in digs with 13, reaching a career high.
Last match of the weekend came against University of Science, Health and Pharmacology. UHSP took the early first set lead, 25-21. The second set saw UHSP burst out to an 8-1 run and continued to surge, securing set two, 25-16.
"We were not there in the second set. It was definitely a deep valley we were in. There was no energy at all on the floor." (Coach Forbes)
In the third set, the Bearcats came back to life and battled to win the set, 26-24.
"I really like how we responded in set 3. It showed that we do have the fighting spirit that we are going to need to get out of those valley's this year. UHSP put on a defensive performance to secure set 4 and win the match. 25-16.
The Bearcats were led by Vandewalle with nine kills and 12 digs. The Bearcats will travel to Life University for a tri-match this coming weekend. First serve will be at 11:00 am CST.