OSKALOOSA, IOWA – The Vikings traveled to William Penn University on Tuesday evening for a conference matchup. In a thrilling five-set battle, Grand View emerged victorious 25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 22-25, 15-5. The Vikings improved to 4-4 overall and 3-3 in Heart of America Conference play.
The opening set started with challenges for Grand View as the Statesmen jumped out to a 6-1 lead. Jonathan Rzepa sparked the comeback with a kill from Guilherme Domdei Goedert, and Jake Winters added one to make it 3-7.
Joshua Valencia recorded a service ace to pull the Vikings within 7-9, and Rzepa connected on another kill from Domdei Goedert to make it 8-10. Chris Davis scored from Domdei Goedert, and Winters contributed kills to keep Grand View competitive at 13-16.
Cheikh Sou delivered a kill from Domdei Goedert to make it 15-17, and Rzepa added one to pull the Vikings within 17-19. Grand View called timeout trailing 19-17, and Rzepa connected on another kill from Domdei Goedert to make it 20-21.
Rzepa came through with a clutch block and service ace to give Grand View a 22-21 lead. William Penn called timeout, and Andre Lucas Alves Leandro recorded a service ace to extend the advantage to 24-23. Leandro closed out the opening set with a kill from Winters, securing a 25-23 victory.
The second set saw both teams battle back and forth. Davis scored from Domdei Goedert to open the Vikings' scoring, and Rzepa added a kill to make it 3-3. Sou and Taylor combined for a block to give Grand View a 7-4 lead.
Domdei Goedert orchestrated the offense as the Vikings built their advantage. Davis contributed, and Winters scored from Domdei Goedert to make it 13-9. William Penn called timeout, and Rzepa blocked an attack to extend Grand View's lead to 14-9.
The Statesmen rallied to tie the set at 15-15, but Sou delivered a kill from Domdei Goedert to give the Vikings an 18-15 lead. Rzepa added another kill to make it 20-19, and Sou scored from Domdei Goedert to extend the lead to 22-20.
Grand View called timeout trailing 23-22, and Sou came through with a crucial kill from Domdei Goedert to make it 24-23. Leandro closed out the second set with a kill from Marcus Taylor, giving the Vikings a 25-23 victory and a 2-0 match lead.
The third set started with Leandro scoring from Domdei Goedert to tie it at 1-1. Winters added a kill from Rzepa to make it 3-3, and Sou and Taylor combined for another block to give Grand View a 5-3 lead.
Domdei Goedert contributed a kill to make it 6-6, and Davis scored from Domdei Goedert to tie the set at 8-8. Leandro delivered back-to-back kills from Domdei Goedert to give the Vikings a 10-8 lead, and Leandro and Rzepa blocked an attack to extend the advantage to 12-9.
Leandro scored from Domdei Goedert to make it 13-10, and Winters and Taylor combined for kills to push Grand View ahead 16-13. William Penn called timeout, but the Statesmen rallied late. Grand View called two timeouts trailing 22-19 and 24-20, but William Penn took the third set 25-20.
The fourth set saw Grand View look to close out the match. Domdei Goedert opened with kills from Rzepa and Winters to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead. Winters added another kill from Domdei Goedert to make it 4-1, and the Vikings led 6-5 early.
Winters scored from Domdei Goedert to make it 7-6, and Davis contributed from Domdei Goedert to pull ahead 9-10. Winters added another kill to make it 11-12, and then scored from Taylor to tie the set at 13-13.
Davis delivered a kill from Domdei Goedert to give Grand View a 15-15 tie, and Domdei Goedert contributed to make it 17-18. Rzepa connected on a kill to pull the Vikings within 18-19, but William Penn finished strong to take the fourth set 25-22, forcing a decisive fifth set.
In the fifth set, Leandro and Rzepa combined for a block to open the scoring. Davis came through with a kill from Domdei Goedert, and Rzepa blocked an attack to make it 3-1. Leandro scored from Valencia, and Winters delivered three consecutive kills—two from Domdei Goedert and one from Rzepa—to extend Grand View's lead to 7-1.
Davis recorded a service ace to give the Vikings an 8-1 advantage, and William Penn called two timeouts but couldn't stop the momentum. Winters added another kill from Rzepa to make it 9-2, and Leandro blocked an attack to extend the lead to 11-3.
Winters came through with a service ace to make it 13-4, and Taylor closed out the match with a kill, securing a 15-5 fifth set victory and the comeback win for Grand View.
The Vikings showed tremendous resilience, battling back from a two-set deficit to claim their fourth victory of the season in a thrilling five-set thriller.
MATCH NOTES
UP NEXT
Grand View will play back at home on Saturday, starting at 2:00 PM. That game will end February competition, hosting Graceland Unviersity.
