Men's Volleyball Loses 2 Hard-Fought Matches in Sioux City

(Sioux City, IA) – The men's volleyball team won the second set over Morningside, but the Mustangs prevailed in four sets (20-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-18). Hastings went the distance in their next match against Arizona Christian, falling 3-2 (25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 17-25, 15-11).

Against Morningside, the first set was very close with the teams splitting the first 22 points. With Hastings leading 15-13, the Mustangs pulled ahead 16-15. Kills by freshman Seth Hill and junior Austin McLeroy led to an 18-17 lead. Tied at 19-all, Morningside closed out the set with 6-1 run to win, 25-20.

Morningside won the first two points of the second set, but Hastings won 12 of the next 16 to go up 12-6, as Hill had four kills in the run. Leading 14-12, the Broncos grew the lead to five at 21-16 on a Mustang attacking error. They would not trail by less than four the rest of the way, winning the second set, 25-20, to tie it at one.

With Hastings trailing 5-4 in the third, Morningside went on a 11-5 run to take a 16-9 lead. The Broncos were never able to capture the momentum in the third, as the Mustangs grew the lead to 10 at 22-12. They later won the set, 25-14.

After splitting the first six points of the fourth, the Mustangs went on a 5-0 run. Down 10-4, Hastings won the next three points, but Morningside came right back with eight of the next 11 points to go up 18-10. A kill by freshman Christian Lafferty helped result in a run to get within five at 19-4, but that would be the closest that they would get, as Morningside took the fourth, 25-18.

Lafferty and McLeroy each had 10 kills, while Hill had nine kills. Junior Aleksa Pljevaljcic had 36 assists and 10 digs, while Lafferty contributed 13 digs.

In their match against Arizona Christian with Hastings leading 7-6, Lafferty got back-to-back kills and Hastings later pulled ahead 12-10. The Firestorm won three straight points in what was the beginning of an 8-4 run. Trailing 21-18, Hastings got a kill each from freshman Diego Cobena and Hill and capitalized on a Firestorm error to tie it at 21. Arizona Christian closed out the set however, winning 25-23.

After Hastings took a 5-1 lead in the second set, getting two kills from Lafftery, Arizona Christian would battle back to tie it at five. Down 13-12, Hastings won four straight points and after Arizona Christian responded with four of their own, the Broncos won the next five points mostly on Firestorm errors to take a 21-17 lead. Leading 23-19, Arizona Christian went on a 5-1 run to tie it at 24. Kills by Cobena and Lafftery gave Hastings the 26-24 set win.

Arizona Christian won the first five points of the third, then after Hastings clawed their way back to within one at 8-7, the Firestorm pulled ahead 15-10. Trailing 19-14, McLeroy got a kill and two Arizona Christian errors got Hastings within two. Later in the set at 20-18, the Firestorm won five of the next six points to close out the third, 25-19.

Tied at five in the fourth, Hastings won the next four points mostly on errors. Leading 15-10 following a McLeroy ace, Arizona Christian won four straight points, which was followed by four straight from Hastings to go up 19-13. Hill and McLeroy helped lead the Broncos with kills down the stretch to take the fourth set, 25-17, and set it to a fifth set.

At five-all in the fifth, Arizona Christian went on a 6-1 run to take a 11-6 lead. Hastings was never able to get much closer, as the Firestorm led by four points or more until match point at 14-9. McLeroy got a kill and they cut the lead to three at 14-11, but Arizona Christian closed it out with a kill, 15-11.

McLeroy finished with 12 kills, along with 10 kills and 10 digs from Hill. Pljevaljcic had 41 assists, while freshman Lopaki Laban had 15 digs.

Up next, Hastings will play two games in Sioux Center, IA tomorrow, beginning against Dordt at 10am and ending with Viterbo at 3pm.