Viking spikers pick up pair of wins

The Missouri Valley College men's volleyball team beat the opponents it should, lost to favorites and had a potential upset slip away during the past week.

The 10th-ranked Vikings split four matches Friday and Saturday at the Lindenwood Tournament, beating unrated Holy Names (Calif.) in three games (30-27, 30-23, 30-24) and Moody Bible Institute (Ill.) in four (30-24, 24-30, 30-18, 30-15). In between Valley lost to No. 5 St. Ambrose (Iowa) in three (30-28, 30-23, 33-31) and No. 6 Hope International (Calif.) in four (30-19, 28-30, 30-27, 30-19).

Freshman Yaniv Warenstan had 18 kills and junior Drew Fernandez and senior Jarrett Fujita added 14 each for the Vikings during their victory over Holy Names (1-2), but the team's hitting efficiency declined significantly -- from .416 to .155 -- during the loss to St. Ambrose (3-2).

Although that figure rose to .423 against Hope International (2-2), freshman Josh DeLeon and Fujita combining for 31 shots, Valley only came up with 41 digs -- 13 by freshman Patrick Pinto.

Pinto had 16 spikes and freshman Ivan Zlatkov and Fernandez split 21 kills during a victory over Moody Bible (0-5).

The Vikings won two of the first three games Tuesday during a home match with MAMVIC East member Missouri Baptist, but the fourth-ranked Spartans (6-0) rallied to take a 21-30, 30-22, 29-31, 30-21, 15-9 decision. Valley's hitting again suffered late in the match, at .188 during the fourth frame and -.091 -- eight errors versus six kills -- to close the contest.

Zlatkov had 31 of the Vikings' 73 kills, 68 set by freshman Jedson Barbosa, and sophomore Daumier Magewski put down 16 shots.

Valley (2-4) will be in Denver this weekend for its MAMVIC West opener at Johnson and Wales.