Eutectics Shock No. 8-Ranked Spartans

Oh what a night! In front of a large supportive crowd, the Eutectic men's volleyball team surprised the NAIA 8^th-Ranked Missouri Baptist University Spartans (10-2, 0-2 HEART) for the first time in program history in straight sets on Monday night in the UHSP gym: 25-20, 25-21, 25-23. It is the second Heart of America Athletic Conference victory of the season for the Eutectics and the 10^th overall win for the season. Both are program records. This was a hearty start to a heavy week of competition, as the Eutectics will play four Conference matchups against teams all ranked in the top-10 in the NAIA by Sunday.  

The Eutectics took the lead right from the start off a kill from Connor Behymer set up by Cole Cwiklowski in Set 1. The Spartans tied the score a couple of times early, but the Purple and Gold earned three points in a row from a kill by Grant Hoover, an ace from Cameron Werner, and a double block by Marcus Parker and Hoover to go up 6-3. From there, the Euts never looked back, outhitting the Spartans .269 to .071 and taking the Set 25-20.

Buoyed by their first-set success, the Eutectics carried that momentum into the second. But, the Spartans also upped their game, and for every point the home team scored, the Spartans answered back to tie. The teams traded points until, at 8-8, a double block by Dickson Colado and Parker immediately followed a kill by Werner (from Cwiklowski) to give the Euts a two-point advantage (10-8). The Euts were able to score another three in a row off an MBU service error, MBU attack error, and a kill by Grant Hoover (from Cwiklowski) to make it 13-9, Eutectics.

The Euts continued to frustrate the Spartans with incredible digs on heavy swings from the visiting team, including several acrobatic dives from UHSP libero Xavier Gamayo, while setting up impressive and successful attacks of their own. Up 20-19, the Purple and Gold put together back-to-back kills by Colado and Hoover, then returned from a Spartan timeout to have Parker pound down another kill and give the Euts a 23-19 lead. UHSP would take the final point off a Spartan service error at 25-21. The Spartan hitters posted an impressive .448 attacking percentage in the set, but the Eutectics bested them with .481, committing only two attacking errors on 27 attempts.  

The Spartans changed up their lineup a bit for the third set, which seemed to make enough of a positive impact that they were able to take their first lead of the entire match at 6-5. After a service error by MBU, the Eutectics lined up back-to-back kills from Hoover and Parker to regain the lead at 8-6, and later extend that lead to 13-9. The Spartans, however, fought back to a 17-17 tie, then took their second lead of the match off an ace from Michael Olsen (18-17). UHSP won four of the next five points, though, and got to set-point off another MBU service error (24-22). The Spartans held off the inevitable for one point, but Behymer, set up by Cwiklowski, had the final kill of the night to claim the 25-23 set victory and claim the match at 3-0.

Led by Connor Behymer's 13 kills on 20 attempts (.550), the Eutectic offense performed phenomenally. As a team, they racked up 41 kills while committing only 10 errors on 85 attempts to average .365 for the match. Grant Hoover also hit double figures with 11 kills on 21 attempts (.429).

Defensively, the Euts dug up 34 attacks, led by Dickson Colado's 13 digs. The Eutectics currently lead the Heart of America Athletic Conference in digs (379) and digs per set (10.83).

Marcus Parker was involved in all five Eutectic blocks in the match to hold the Spartan hitters to a .290 average on the night. UHSP setter Cole Cwiklowski ran all over the court to set up creative, unexpected, and accurate attacks for the Eutectic hitters. He finished the night with 37 assists.  

Aleksa Mandic, who currently leads the Conference in kills per set (3.97), led the Spartan attackers in the match with 17 kills on 37 attempts.

The victory over MBU puts the Eutectic record at 10-1 overall and 2-0 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Tuesday night, they will be back in action on the road, travelling to Parkville, Mo., to take on the No. 2-ranked Park University Pirates (11-1, 3-0 HEART) for another Conference matchup at 7 p.m.