Eutectics Sweep Series with Yellowjackets

LAMONI, IOWA - With a victory in Lamoni, Iowa, on Tuesday night, the Eutectic men's volleyball team swept the Heart of America Athletic Conference home-and-home series with the Graceland University Yellowjackets (3-13, 1-9 HEART): 29-27, 22-25, 25-20, 25-23.

The Yellowjackets put down two kills to start off the match and the Eutectics laid chase, eventually catching the home team at 10-10 after two GU attacking errors and a kill by Grant Hoover, set up by NAIA Setter of the Week Cole Cwiklowski. With ties at 16 and 17, the Eutectics finally took over the lead at 18-17 off a kill from Dickson Colado. Two more Graceland errors, followed by a kill by Cameron Werner (from Cwiklowski), put the Euts up 21-18, but the Yellowjackets evened it at 21. The two teams battled hard for the first-set finish line, with both sides saving two set points en route to the finale. Eventually, the Eutectics came up with the final three points in a row when two GU errors were sandwiched around a kill by Connor Behymer (from Cwiklowski) to clinch the set at 29-27.

The second set began in a similar manner, with the Yellowjackets taking a 3-1 lead and the Eutectics attempting to chase them down. With ties at 5, 6, 7, and 8, Graceland was finally able to put some distance between them and the Eutectics at 11-8 by winning three points in a row. The UHSP team fought to keep up, but at 18-16, the Yellowjackets strung together another four points to go up 22-16. The Purple and Gold won six of the next nine points to narrow the deficit, but ultimately could not catch Graceland before they got to 25-22 to win the set.

The Eutectics seemed to return to the court with determination in the third set, going up 3-0 on Cwiklowski's serve and extending it to 5-1 after a Werner/Hoover block. A Colado service ace put them up 9-4, and a Werner ace gave them an 18-12 advantage. Up 20-17, the Eutectics won five of the last eight points, punctuated by a Werner kill, set up by Cwiklowski, to earn the third set victory at 25-20.

The UHSP followed the same pattern early in the fourth set, going up 5-1 on a Werner kill and holding the lead throughout the rest of the set. Two three-point scoring runs got the Euts to 11-7, then 16-11, and it looked like the rest of the match would be smooth sailing. At 21-15, however, the Yellowjackets made some noise with two kills sandwiching three blocks by Aiden Marinez and Malakai Christian for five points in a row. But, the one-two punch of Cwiklowski to Werner put an end to that run, and the Eutectics were able to get back on track and finish the set at 25-23 to clinch the match off a Hoover kill set by Cwiklowski.   

Grant Hoover and Connor Behymer both reached double figures for kills in the match, tallying 12 and 11, respectively. Cameron Werner picked up nine kills on 17 attempts with only one error to average .471 on the attacking line, while also knocking down eight blocks. Cole Cwiklowski served up 41 assists for the team's 48 kills to average more than 10 kills per set, while adding in two aces, four digs, and two blocks. Xavier Gamayo tallied nine digs for the Euts.

Tuesday's victory gives the Eutectics an overall record of 17-7 and a Conference record of 7-7. They look to improve on their .500 HEART record and land back-to-back Conference sweeps with a victory over Missouri Baptist University (17-4, 6-4 HEART) Wednesday night in the Spartan's R. Anton Lacey Gym.