Men's Volleyball Debuts with 2 Matches in Marshall

(Marshall, MO) – In the first matches of the Hastings College men's volleyball program, the Broncos fell short against Morningside, 3-0 (28-26, 25-18, 25-21), then lost 3-0 to Ottawa University Arizona, 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-20).

Hastings started well against Morningside, winning seven of the first nine points of the first set. Freshman Christian Lafferty got the first two kills of the game for the Broncos and junior Aleksa Pljevaljcic set up junior Austin McLeroy for another kill in the run. Still leading at 13-10, the Mustangs tied it at 13 and it would remain close the rest of the set. 

Down 21-20 in the first set, Lafferty got kills on three straight points to go up 23-21. Two plays later, freshman Seth Hill created a set point opportunity, but the next three points went to the Mustangs. Lafferty kept Hastings in the set with a couple of kills, but Morningside prevailed 28-26 in the first set.

After splitting the first four points of the second set, the Mustangs went on a 5-0 run. Hastings was only able to trade points throughout the rest of the set, keeping the deficit between four and seven points throughout the rest of the way. Down 22-15, Hastings won three of the next four points, but the Mustangs closed the set with two points, winning 25-18.

Lafferty got a couple of early kills and an ace in the third and held a 4-3 lead. Morningside took a lead at 8-5, then with the score at 13-8, Hastings won four straight points on a Lafferty kill and three Mustang errors to get within one. Still at a one-point deficit at 17-16, Morningside went on a 4-0 run to go up 21-16. Hastings won three of the next four points to get within three, but could not get closer the rest of the way, falling 25-21 in the third to end the match.

Lafferty ended with a game-high 17 kills. Pljevaljcic also led both teams in assists with 30. Freshman Lopaki Laban finished with eight digs, while Pljevaljcic and McLeroy each had seven digs.

Against Ottawa, the Broncos and the Spirit played a very competitive first set, with Hastings outhitting them, .435 to .429 and committing just two errors. Ottawa had 18 kills in the first set however, leading to a narrow 25-23 first set win.

Hastings was unable to keep up the same hitting percentage in the second set, hitting .138 to Ottawa's .483. The Spirit had another 18 kills in the period and cut their errors down to four to take it, 25-17.

The Broncos forced seven errors by Ottawa in the third set and a hitting percentage of .286, but were held to .167 in the 25-20 set three loss. For the match, Ottawa had a .400 hitting percentage with just 17 errors, while Hastings hit .237.

Lafferty led Hastings with seven kills in the match. Pljevaljcic collected 22 of the teams' 28 assists and also had five kills and four digs.

Up next, Hastings will be back in Marshall tomorrow to face host Missouri Valley at 10am and Central Christian at 4pm.