Volleyball sweeps Vikings to advance in Heart Tournament
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Missouri Valley ( ) | 13 | 16 | 21 | 0 |
|
Benedictine (KS) ( ) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Volleyball put together a dominant performance on Saturday night.
The No. 2 seed Ravens swept the No. 7 seed Missouri Valley College Vikings, 3-0, in the opening round of the Heart Conference Tournament Championship.
The Ravens put together a thorough win in the opening set, taking a 1-0 match lead thanks to a 25-13 set win. The Ravens took a 14-7 lead to force a Vikings timeout, but the pause in action didn't slow the Ravens down. The home side raced to a 22-9 lead and coasted to a 12-point win in the opener thanks in large part to a .440 attack percentage.
The Ravens made it a 2-0 match lead with another strong showing in the second set. The Ravens got out to a 16-11 lead to force a Vikings timeout, but much like the first set the timeout didn't slow down the Ravens. Great awareness helped the Ravens close out the 25-16 set win as Regan Bruggeman's kick save kept the point alive and then Bruggeman closed it out with the kill.
The Vikings didn't go down without a fight. After the Ravens went up 18-14 in the third set, the visitors battled back to tie the score at 20-20.
But a timeout turned things around as the Ravens closed out the set, and the match, on a 5-1 run to win 25-21. The three-set sweep was the second of the week for the Ravens as they did the same thing to the Vikings in the regular season finale on Tuesday night.
The Ravens notched a .340 attack percentage in the match while holding MVC to .087. Leading the attack was Mahala Sewell who had 11 kills. Winny Harris and Bruggeman each added 9 kills, and Hokulani Sagapolu recorded 8 kills. Haley Cahill had 40 assists for the Ravens, and Evelyn Arreola notched 15 digs.
Lauren Stanga proved to be a force on the serve, recording 3 aces. Marissa Mantz and Sagapolu both added 2 aces.
The Ravens (23-7) advance to the semifinals of the Heart Tournament and will host the No. 3 seed Park University Pirates at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12. The Ravens and Pirates split the season series, with each team winning on the other's home court.