Mistakes cost Eutectics as they fall at Morningside

(Photo courtesy of Rodrigue Koutoglo)

SIOUX CITY, IA – Friday evening the Eutectics opened up maybe their most difficult stretch of their schedule. Beginning tonight, UHSP will play ten games over a 21-day span with seven of those teams either ranked or receiving votes in the latest national poll. That jaunt opened with a match against Heart Conference newcomer Morningside who at 5-3 overall and 1-2 in the conference was themselves trying to snap a mini two-game slide after dropping back-to-back games against top-5 nationally ranked teams. The Eutectics of late have run into an issue of closing out sets late and that again cost them another match as the Mustangs prevailed in straight sets, 25-21, 25-12, 25-21.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

• The Mustangs had their least effective set in the opener as they connected at just a .214 attack percentage converting 11 kills with five errors on 28 attempts. UHSP had 12 kills with seven errors for an attack percentage of .152. The Eutectics forged the tenth tie of the set at 18-18 as Grant Hoover and Xander Quenzer combined for a block at the net. Up until that point, the largest lead for either team was three as the Mustangs led 10-7. Tied at 18, MU scored three of the next four and six of the next eight to finish out the set.
• Morningside was too many extended runs in the second set as the Eutectics fell behind early. A quick 6-0 run put MU ahead 7-3. After a couple of Mustangs errors eventually made it 10-7, Morningside took eight of the next nine to essentially end all doubt to lead 19-8. UHSP would score three straight getting kills from RJ Dilks and Cooper Hansen, but MU wrapped it up by taking six of the final seven points.
• The third was tied early for the seventh time at 9-9 when UHSP went on an 8-2 run to take a 17-11 advantage using kills from Zach Gavrick, Grant Hoover and Dickson Colado. The Mustangs not only immediately responded, but took a 21-19 lead by claiming ten of the next dozen points. UHSP only got a kill from Cameron Werner the rest of the way as MU closed the show by taking four of the final six points to win the set and end the night.
• Attacking success was a big differential on the night as Morningside swung at .321 while UHSP hit at .077.
• MU's Natan Alves was the lone player with double-digit kills with 13.
• Grant Hoover led UHSP with seven kills, but also had seven hitting errors. He added a team-leading seven digs.
• Owen Anderson had a match-high 11 digs to lead the Mustangs.
• Said UHSP Head Coach Chris Frankenfield, "I feel it's a collective loss. And I played almost every player. It wasn't that we couldn't score points; we scored quite a bit. We served well we just continued to make a little mistake here and then another little mistake there. We had the opportunity off of a great pass and didn't quite click with the middle or the set was there for the hitter and we would just hit it out by 6-8 inches. Those repeated unforced errors just added up and it was too much to overcome".

UP NEXT:

The Eutectics (3-4, 1-2 HEART) play their second match in Iowa in as many days on Saturday afternoon when they play their first-ever match against the Dordt Defenders (6-5) another newcomer this year to the Heart Conference. The Defenders fell on Friday night to the 7^th-ranked Missouri Baptist Spartans to fall to 1-4 in conference play. The match on Saturday gets underway at 4:00p. The Eutectics then play at MoBap on Wednesday prior to their next home match next Friday against 5-Park.