St. Louis, Mo. – The Central Christian Men’s Volleyball team was in action this weekend at the University of Health and Sciences and Pharmacy Triangular in St. Louis, Missouri. They faced both UHSP and Graceland University on Saturday.
First up was the UHSP Eutectics and the Tigers struggled to find a rhythm early, they dropped the first set 25-19 after a back and forth set. Each team mounted a run but two runs by UHSP sealed the first after four straight points to close out the set. The Tigers made adjustments and tried to defend the UHSP attack better in the second set but the Eutectics were relentless, taking the second set, 25-18 to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.
In the 3rd set, the Tigers could not overcome attack errors as they hit -0.040 for the set. UHSP would go on to take advantage of the Tiger miscues and win the third set 25-17 and win the match in straight sets.
A few hours later, the Tigers faced Graceland University in their final match of the weekend. In the first set, the Tigers had one of their best sets of the season, tallying 12 kills on 32 swings with just 3 errors resulting in a .312 hitting percentage. They would go on to take the first set 25-23 for a 1-0 lead in the match. Graceland would look to even the match as they stormed out of the gates in the second set to a 14-4 lead. Despite hitting a positive .154 for the set, the Tigers dropped the second set 18-25 and the match was evened up at 1-1.
The Tigers were down 6-3 early in the third set when they went on a 17-6 run to take a 20-12 lead in the set. They would go on to win the set 25-19 and take a 2-1 advantage in the match. The Tigers continued to be efficient, racking up 14 kills on 27 swings with just 4 errors. The Tigers hit .370 for the set, marking their highest hitting percentage for a set this season. Ahead 2-1, the Tigers would drop a crucial fourth set 25-21 and this forced a winner take all fifth set.
Graceland jumped out to a 5-2 lead when the Tigers mounted a rally, scoring 8 of the next 10 points to take a 10-6 lead in the set. They would go on to close out the set 15-10 to win the match in a five set thriller.
The Tigers moved to 1-22 on the year and come back home to McPherson to host a triangular with Hastings College and Avila University on Saturday, April 11th starting at 1:00PM.
