Things fall apart for UHSP after set one thriller vs Missouri Valley

(Photo courtest of Makenzie Ness)

ST. LOUIS, MO - The Eutectics came into a Tuesday night matchup looking for their first-ever win over a conference foe in Missouri Valley. The match with the Vikings kicked off a week of three consecutive Heart of America Athletic Conference home contests for UHSP. The Eutectics went deep into extra points eventually pulling out the opening set, but MoVal stormed back to win the next three to claim the match 33-35, 25-22, 25-18, 25-15.

To begin the match, UHSP grabbed an early 4-1 lead thanks in part to a couple of Connor Behymer service aces. After a UHSP error, Dickson Colado gain made the lead three at 5-2 which would be the largest lead the Eutectics would hold in the opening set. A Behymer kill turned the score to 8-6 before Missouri Valley embarked on a 6-1 run to take a 12-10 advantage. The two teams combined for four errors in a five-point stretch that resulted in the Vikings largest lead in the set at 17-13. The Purple and Gold promptly responded with a 5-1 run of their own with three of those points coming on MVC errors while Behymer notched a kill and Cole Cwiklowski registered an ace and things were all even at 18-18. The short swings continued as the Vikings went up 21-19, but UHSP scored four straight to go up 23-21 with Colado and Grant Hoover getting kills. Missouri Valley's Andrey Bastos provided the kill to level things at 23-23 and the two clubs settled in for the long haul of extra points in the opener. Davi Azevedo would give the Vikings their sixth set point at 33-32 with UHSP holding four set points themselves up to that point. But Azevedo had an attack error that re-tied the set at 33. Isaac Gallinero set up Cwiklowski for a kill to give the home club their fifth set point and another Azevedo error sealed the set for the Eutectics at 35-33. The opening set alone featured 30 kills but 23 attack errors as neither squad had an attack percentage better than .110.

Points were earned with more regularity in the second set as teams started to see better offensive results at the net. There was minimal separation early until UHSP took a five-point lead at 11-6 on a Cameron Werner hammer. Three of the next five also went the Eutectics way as they led 14-8. But that is when things changed as Missouri Valley went on a stretch of taking eight in a row and 11 of the next 12. Oscar Manana had a service run of seven straight points during the Vikings streak that resulted in a 19-15 lead. Seemingly in trouble, Colado got a kill and then served four straight points thanks to a pair of aces as UHSP steadied to grab a 20-19 lead. It was tied at each of the next three possible junctures until the Vikings scored the final three points of the set thanks in part to two kills from Azevedo in a 25-22 set win.

The third set followed the same pattern as the rest of the night had gone to that point: little separation, both teams holding slim leads and playing tight until the middle of the set. UHSP had a 14-13 lead with Colado picking up five kills in the first half of the set. The Vikings would take control late yet again by scoring four straight and seven of the next nine to lead 21-15. The two clubs traded the next six points and a UHSP error at 24-18 gave the third set to MVC and the Vikings had a two sets to one lead.

Eight points into the fourth set, Marcus Parker and Cooper Hansen had kills for the home club and things were even at 4-4. The long Vikings run of points came a little earlier in the fourth as they rattled off seven in a row and 10 of the next 11. Five of those MoVal points came off UHSP hitting errors as the Vikings led 14-5. The Eutectics never got closer than seven the rest of the way as Missouri Valley was content to essentially trade point for point the rest of the way in winning the final set 25-15.

Following that opening set when Missouri Valley struggled at the net to a hitting percentage of .038, the Vikings were over .300 in the middle two sets and .219 in the fourth. UHSP's best set for the match was .216 in the second. MoVal finished at .208 overall and the Eutectics were at .110. Dickson Colado led the offense for UHSP with 16 kills while Grant Hoover added 13. Cole Cwiklowski just missed out on another 40-plus assist night finishing with 39. Cwiklowski also led UHSP with 15 digs, one of five players with double-digit digs. Xavier Gamayo had 12 digs while Dickson Colado, Connor Behymer and Grant Hoover all had 10. Andrey Bastos paced the Missouri Valley offense with 20 kills while Leonardo Leao dished out 45 assists.

A busy week at the UHSP Gymnasium continues on Friday night for the Eutectics (11-5, 2-4) as the Clarke Pride (5-10, 2-5) roll into town. The match starts at 7p and is the start of three straight games in St. Louis for Clark and the second stop on a six-match road trip overall for the Pride. Mount Mercy is in town on Saturday at 12:00p to finish out the week for UHSP.