No. 12 Men's Volleyball Pulls Away from Ottawa at Home

Marshall, Mo., (March 26, 2024)- The No. 12 Missouri Valley College men's volleyball team hosted Ottawa (Kan.) in a non-conference match Tuesday evening inside the Burns Athletic Complex.  The Vikings went in front early, and eventually finished out a 25-19, 29-31, 25-13, 25-20 win.

The first game started with Ottawa going on top, 7-2, to open play.  Missouri Valley answered back with a long run as two kills from both Sophomore Right Side Samuel Essilfie (Tema, Ghana) and Senior Middle Blocker Daniel Isernhagen (Curitiba, Brazil) along with one kill from Junior Setter Lucas Rodrigues (Balnelariu Cambriu, Brazil), two aces from Sophomore Right Side Luca Hasse (Paderborn, Germany) and a block from Isernhagen and Rodrigues gave the team an eight-point run to move in front, 10-7.  The advantage grew from there as Freshman Outside Hitter Andrey Bastos (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) landed two kills and both Essilfie and Freshman Middle Blocker Samuel Stafford (Taringa, Australia) put down one kill to make it a 14-9 score.  The trio of Bastos, Stafford and Essilfie added one more kill apiece, and the team led, 18-11.  Ottawa cut down its deficit over the next stretch of play, and trailed, 22-18.  Sophomore Middle Blocker Vasil Stoimenov (Pazardzhik, Bulgaria) followed with two-straight kills, and the game ended on one final kill from Bastos to finish out a 25-19 win.  Missouri Valley hit at a .484 percentage in the game.

The Vikings again fell into an early deficit in the second game, as OU held a 5-1 lead.  Two kills from Hasse and three Brave errors helped to tie the score at 6-6, while back-to-back kills from Isernhagen and Junior Outside Hitter Georgi Vlahov (Sofia, Bulgaria) put MVC on top, 10-8.  Ottawa answered back to reclaim the lead, and stretch the gap to 15-12.  Missouri Valley was unable to work back, and eventually trailed, 23-16.  On the serve of Essilfie, the Vikings mounted a rally, which included two kills from Bastos, one kill from Isernhagen and a block from Isnerhagen to pull the team ahead, and own the first game-point, 24-23.  Ottawa extended the game, and eventually held a total of five game points over the next stretch.  One more kill from Essilfie tied the teams at 29-29, but the Braves won the final two points to take game two, 31-29, and send the contest into a third game at 1-1.

Points were traded at the start of the second game, as Hasse finished off three kills, while Stafford landed one kill and teamed up with Bastos on a block.  Essilfie added back-to-back kills, and the pair of Isernhagen and Bastos teamed up on a block to help MVC build up an 8-4 advantage.  A five-point run later in the game extended the lead for the Vikings, as Stafford, Essilfie and Bastos each landed one kill to help make it a 16-8 score.  Six-straight points pushed the advantage to double-digits, with Hasse finishing off one kill and an ace, Isernhagen landed one kill, then teamed up with Rodrigues on a block to eventually set the lead at 23-11.  Two final service errors from OU ended the game in a 25-13 win, and allowed Missouri Valley to hold a 2-1 advantage in the match.  The Braves were limited to a -.030 percentage hitting in the game.

Missouri Valley got in front at the start of the fourth game, helped by two early kills from Bastos and one kill from Hasse.  Three-straight kills by Essilfie put the lead at 6-3.  The Vikings gradually added to the advantage, as Essilfie and Bastos put down one kill each and Isernhagen landed an ace to make it an 11-6 score.  Stafford and Hasse teamed up on a block, followed by a Hasse kill.  Essilfie then added two-straight kills and another Hasse kill kept MVC in front, 17-10.  The teams traded points over a long stretch of play, which featured one block from Stafford and Essilfie and an OU error to make it game-point.  After three-straight Brave points, the Vikings used one last kill from Essilfie to take game four, 25-20, and win the match.

Essilfie led with 19 kills and added nine digs.  Hasse had 14 kills on a .444 hitting percentage, and Bastos totaled his third double-double of the season with 14 kills and 10 digs.  Rodrigues led with 34 assists to go with nine digs.  Ruben Baquero led with a season-high 16 digs.  Missouri Valley totaled nine blocks and four aces.

Missouri Valley improves to 15-4, while Ottawa drops to 4-13.  The Vikings swept the Braves in their first meeting of the season, by scores of 25-21, 26-24, 25-13 back on Feb. 6, in Ottawa, Kan.

Up next, Missouri Valley will host Mount Mercy (Iowa) in a Heart of America Athletic Conference match, Friday at 7 p.m., inside the Burns Athletic Complex.

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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.