Women's Volleyball Leads Early, Falls to No. 19 Central Methodist on the Road

Fayette, Mo., (Oct. 17, 2023)- The Missouri Valley College women's volleyball team went to Fayette, Mo., for a Tuesday evening Heart of America Athletic Conference match against No. 19 Central Methodist (Mo.).  The Vikings went in front early, but fell in four games by scores of 25-23, 19-25, 19-25, 16-25.

The two teams played even at the start of game one, through a 4-4 score.  Central Methodist followed with three-straight points, while Senior Outside Hitter Ksenija Simun (Kotor, Montenegro) finished off a kill to help put MVC into an 8-7 deficit.  The Eagles responded and worked up a 13-10 advantage.  Missouri Valley answered back with six of the next seven points.  Junior Right Side Maria Bertholdo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) landed an ace, while Junior Setter Lynsey Day (Kingman, Ariz.), Simun and Junior Outside Hitter Juliana Oliviera (Ribeirao Preto, Brazil) each added one kill during the stretch of play.  The run was capped by a block from Junior Middle Blocker Emma Schulte (Marshall, Mo.) and Oliviera to put the Vikings on top, 16-14.  Oliviera came back with another kill to make it a 17-15 score, but CMU rallied to eventually move ahead, 20-18.  The score sat at 22-19 late in the game, in favor of Central Methodist, before the Viking put together a late run.  Missouri Valley won five-straight points, which included three kills from Bertholdo, to hold game-point, 24-22.  The Eagles won the next point, but Bertholdo put down her fourth kill late in the game to close out a 25-23 win.

Game two started with the teams staying close through much of the early play.  Bertholdo teamed up with Sophomore Middle Blocker Nekane Parera (Barcelona, Spain) on a block to open scoring, while Bertholdo finished off two kills, with one kill from both Oliviera and Simun.  The pair of Schulte and Oliviera earned a block, and the teams were tied at 7-7.  Missouri Valley came through with four-straight points, featuring one kill from Simun and Parera, to put the team on top, 10-9.  Points were traded over the next stretch, as CMU built up a 15-14 lead.  The Eagles began to pull away from there, and won four-straight points to eventually make it a 22-16 score.  Missouri Valley was unable to work back, as Central Methodist won the second game, 25-19.

Missouri Valley used one kill from both Oliviera and Junior Outside Hitter Beatriz Kateb (Madrid, Spain) at the start of the third game to keep the score even at 3-3.  The Eagles answered with a run of seven-straight points to pull ahead, 10-3.  Missouri Valley tried to trim away its deficit, helped by one kill from Parera, Simun and Oliviera with an ace from Simun bringing the team to within a 12-7 score.  Three more kills from Oliviera, who then teamed up on a block with Parera helped bring the gap down to 13-11.  Central Methodist kept up its advantage through the rest of the game, never holding lower than a three-point lead through the end, coming away with a 25-19 win to go in front, 2-1 in games won.

Central Methodist jumped out to a lead at the start of the third game, winning five-straight points.  The first kill for Missouri Valley came from Simun, but the team sat in a 6-3 deficit.  The teams traded points over the next stretch, as Simun landed two more kills, along with one kill from Oliviera to make it a 10-7 score.  The Eagles came back with three-straight points to push their lead out to 13-7.  Oliviera finished off one kill, but CMU won the next five points and put the advantage at 18-8.  Four of the next five points were won by the Vikings, as Parera and Simun had one kill each, with two aces from Oliviera to cut the gap down to 18-12.  Missouri Valley could not put together a late rally, and Central Methodist eventually closed out a 25-16 win in the game to take the match.

Oliviera had a team-high 17 kills to go with nine digs and three aces.  Simun totaled a double-double of 16 kills and 17 digs.  Bertholdo added nine kills.  Day finished with a double-double of 44 assists and 14 digs, while Senior Outside Hitter Jeanie Palsis (Nanakuli, Hawaii) led with 22 digs.  Missouri Valley had six blocks and six aces as a team.

Missouri Valley drops to 14-13 overall and 6-7 in the Heart.  Central Methodist improves to 17-6 on the season and 11-2 in the conference.

Up next, the Viking women's volleyball team will go to Olathe, Kan., for a Heart match with MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Friday at 7 p.m.

Box Score-Click Here

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.