Men's Volleyball Opens Season Sweeping Kansas Wesleyan

Salina, Kan., (Feb. 2, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College men's volleyball team opened its season with a road non-conference game in Salina, Kan., against Kansas Wesleyan.  The Vikings swept the match, winning by scores of 26-24, 25-21, 25-16.

The match opened with Missouri Valley working out to a 4-1 lead, helped by a block from Junior Setter Lucas Rodrigues (Balnelariu Cambriu, Brazil) and Freshman Middle Blocker Samuel Stafford (Taringa, Australia) and two-straight kills from Sophomore Right Side Samiel Essilfie (Tema, Ghana).  Kansas Wesleyan worked back to a 6-5 deficit, then tied the score at 7-7.  Junior Outside Hitter Georgi Vlahov (Sofia, Bulgaria) answered with one ace and one kill to put MVC back on top, 10-7.  The two teams traded points over the next stretch of play.  Essilfie and Vlahov teamed up on a block to put the advantage at 16-12.  Essilfie put down an ace and one kill to make it a 19-16 score.  Kansas Wesleyan worked back and won five of the next six points to pull ahead, 21-20.  Freshman Outside Hitter Driss Gousson (Nantes, France) tied the game with one kill, but KWU eventually held a 23-21 lead.  Vlahov teamed up with Stafford on a kill, then put down one kill to push MVC to game-point, 24-23.  The score was tied again, but the VIkings held another game-point, at 25-24 after another kill from Essilfie.  An attack error from Kansas Wesleyan ended the game, and gave Missouri Valley a 26-24 win.

Game two started with another early Viking run, as Gousson put down the first kill, followed by one kill from Senior Middle Blocker Daniel Isernhagen (Curitiba, Brazil) and two kills from Vlahov to make it a 5-1 score.  Kansas Wesleyan closed the gap by taking four of the next five points to trail, 6-5.  Vlahov answered with a kill, while Rodrigues and Stafford finished off one block to keep the team in front, 8-5.  The Coyotes strung together another run, taking six of the following seven points to move on top, 11-9.  Rodrigues and Isernhagen finished off the next two kills for MVC to tie the teams at 11-11.  Points were traded over the next stretch, through a 13-13 score.  Sophomore Right Side Luca Hasse (Paderborn, Germany) started a three-point run with one kill, while Stafford added one kill, then added a block to give the Vikings a 16-13 lead.  Kansas Wesleyan worked back to an 18-17 deficit, but Gousson stretched the lead out with three-straight kills, then recorded a fourth kill late in the game to make it a 22-19 score.  Isernhagen and Hasse moved the team to game-point with one kill each, and Hasse landed one final kill to give Missouri Valley a 25-21 victory.

The Viking gradually built up a lead in the third game, as Gousson had two kills, Stafford, Freshman Outside Hitter Benjamin Webb (Auckland, New Zealand) and Hasse each had one kill as the score moved to 8-3.  Rodrigues and Gousson put down one kill each and Webb finished off an ace to make it an 11-5 score.  Gousson added two more kills, then stepped up for a block to stretch the lead at 17-9.  Isernhagen finished off two more kills, while Rodrigues added one kill to make it a 22-15 advantage.  The Vikings reached match-point on an ace from Rodrigues, then ended the contest with one more Gousson kill to finish game three, 25-16, for the sweep.  The team hit at a .522 percentage in the game.

Gousson led with 15 kills, on a .565 hitting percentage, to go with five assists.  Isernhagen finished with eight kills.  Rodrigues led with 38 assists, and Junior Libero Leonardo Leao (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) totaled 12 digs.  Missouri Valley had four aces as a  team, and finished with a .323 hitting percentage.

Missouri Valley improves to 1-0, while Kansas Wesleyan falls to 2-3.

Up next, the Viking men's volleyball team plays on the road in another non-conference match, in Ottawa, Kan., against Ottawa (Kan.), Tuesday at 7 p.m.

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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.