Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Grand View swept Mount Mercy University, 28-26, 26-24, 26-24, in the quarterfinals of the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Saturday afternoon in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Vikings improve to 19-11 overall and advance to the semifinals.
Set 1
Mount Mercy scored first, but an Ava Renner kill tied it at 1, and back-to-back Victoria Gasparini kills made it 2-2 and gave Grand View a 3-2 lead. After the teams tied at 3, a Mount Mercy service error put the Vikings back in front, and back-to-back Maria Eduarda dos Passos kills gave them a 6-4 lead. A Brooklyn Roder kill made it 7-5, and a Mount Mercy error made it 8-6. Mount Mercy ran off three straight to take a 9-8 lead, but a Mount Mercy service error tied it at 9 and a Mount Mercy error put Grand View back in front, 10-9. A Mount Mercy error off a block from Jocelyn Barrett made it 11-10, and after Mount Mercy tied it again at 11, Gasparini put down a kill and served an ace to make it 13-11. A Mount Mercy error made it 14-12, and Roder kills made it 15-12, which forced a Mount Mercy timeout, and 16-12. Mount Mercy came back to tie it at 17, but a Mount Mercy error off a block from Renner put Grand View back in front, 18-17. Mount Mercy went ahead 19-18 and Grand View called timeout, then Roder tied it at 19 with a kill. Mount Mercy took a 21-19 lead, but a Barrett kill and a Mount Mercy error off a block from Barrett tied it at 21, and a Gasparini kill, assisted by Cecilia Campos, put the Vikings up 22-21 and forced a Mount Mercy timeout. Another Gasparini kill made it 23-21, and after Mount Mercy cut it to 23-22, a Barrett kill made it 24-22 and gave Grand View set point. Mount Mercy tied it at 24, and a dos Passos kill put the Vikings back in front, 25-24, but Mount Mercy took a 26-25 lead. After a Grand View timeout, back-to-back dos Passos kills tied it at 26 and gave Grand View a 27-26 lead, and a Mount Mercy error ended the set, 28-26.
Set 2
Gasparini opened the second set with a kill, and after Mount Mercy tied it at 1, Gasparini and dos Passos kills gave Grand View a 3-1 lead. The set was tied at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, with kills from Barrett, dos Passos, Renner, Gasparini and Barrett keeping the Vikings even, before Mount Mercy ran off three straight to lead 11-8. After a Grand View timeout, Gasparini, dos Passos and Renner kills and a Mount Mercy error tied it at 12. Mount Mercy went back in front 13-12, and dos Passos tied it again at 13 with a kill. Mount Mercy later built an 18-15 lead, but Grand View answered with five straight points, getting kills from Barrett, Renner and Gasparini to tie it at 18. After a Mount Mercy timeout, two more Gasparini kills put the Vikings up 20-18. Mount Mercy tied it at 20, but a Barrett kill made it 21-20 and two Mount Mercy errors made it 23-20, with a Mount Mercy timeout in between. A Barrett kill made it 24-21, and Mount Mercy ran off three straight to tie it at 24, but dos Passos put away back-to-back kills to win the set, 26-24.
Set 3
The third set was tight from the start, tied at 1, 2, 3 and 4, with a Roder kill, Gasparini kills and a Mount Mercy error off a block from Barrett and Gasparini keeping Grand View even. A Mount Mercy service error put the Vikings up 5-4, but Mount Mercy took the next two points to lead 6-5, and back-to-back dos Passos kills tied it at 6 and gave Grand View a 7-6 lead. The score was tied again at 8 and 9 on Mount Mercy errors off blocks from dos Passos and Roder and from Renner and Roder, and Renner and Gasparini kills tied it at 10 and 11. A Mount Mercy error tied it at 12, and a Gasparini kill gave Grand View a 13-12 lead. After ties at 13, 14 and 15, with a dos Passos kill evening it at 15, a Gasparini kill put the Vikings in front 16-15, and a Mount Mercy error made it 17-15 and forced a Mount Mercy timeout. A Mount Mercy error made it 18-16, and a Barrett kill made it 19-17. Mount Mercy then took four straight points to lead 21-19, and Grand View called timeout. Out of the timeout, a Renner kill and a Juliana Neves kill, assisted by Renner, tied it at 21. A dos Passos kill tied it again at 22, but Mount Mercy took a 24-22 lead and set point. The Vikings answered with four straight points to win the set. A dos Passos kill made it 23-24, and two Mount Mercy errors, with Neves serving, made it 25-24 after Mount Mercy called timeout at 24-24. Dos Passos put away the final kill to finish the match, 26-24.
Match Notes
- Victoria Gasparini and Maria Eduarda dos Passos each led Grand View with 18 kills, and Gasparini added a service ace.
- Jocelyn Barrett added 8 kills and posted a team-high 3.0 points off the block.
- Juliana Neves ran the offense with 50 assists.
- Cecilia Campos led the Grand View defense with a team-high 32 digs, adding 3 assists.
- Ava Renner chipped in 19 digs and 2.0 points off the block, and Brooklyn Roder added 2.0 points off the block.
- Clarissa Hasty added 13 digs and an assist.
- All three sets were decided by two points.
- As a team, Grand View finished with 57 kills, 56 assists, 103 digs and 6 total blocks, out-blocking Mount Mercy 6-4, and held Mount Mercy to 51 kills.
