Box Score DES MOINES, IOWA – The Vikings dropped a hard-fought home matchup against William Penn on Tuesday evening, falling in four sets, 25-21, 26-28, 10-25, 22-25. Grand View falls to 13-8 overall and 12-7 in Heart of America Conference play.
The opening set was a back-and-forth battle throughout. Grand View kept pace with William Penn through the early stages, tying the set multiple times before taking a 14-16 lead. The Vikings extended their advantage to 18-20 behind back-to-back blocks from Cheikh Sou and Andre Lucas Alves Leandro, but William Penn called timeout and rallied to pull within 21-23. Grand View closed out the set with kills from Marcus Taylor and Pietro Fadanelli to secure a 25-21 victory.
The second set was the most dramatic of the night. The two teams were inseparable throughout, tying the set a remarkable number of times. Guilherme Domdei Goedert delivered back-to-back service aces to give Grand View a 22-20 lead, and Andre Lucas Alves Leandro added a service ace to tie it at 24-24. The teams traded points deep into extra points, tying at 25-25 and 26-26, before Ben Brinkman and Tommy Fellows delivered back-to-back kills for William Penn to close out the set 28-26.
The third set was all William Penn. The Statesmen jumped out to a 10-1 lead, forcing back-to-back Grand View timeouts, and never looked back. Despite a late rally from the Vikings that trimmed the deficit, William Penn closed out the set 25-10.
The fourth set saw Grand View battle back admirably. After falling behind 8-3 early, the Vikings chipped away and pulled within 16-10 behind consecutive kills from Leandro. Grand View continued to fight, with Taylor and Leandro delivering key kills to pull within 19-16 and force a William Penn timeout. The Statesmen steadied themselves, and despite Leandro and Sou delivering late kills to pull the Vikings within 24-22, William Penn closed out the match on a block of Sou to secure the 25-22 victory.
GAME NOTES
- Andre Lucas Alves Leandro (14 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks)
- Bernardo Luis Marostica (27 assists, 1 ace, 6 digs)
- Jake Winters (9 digs, 10 kills, 1 block)
- Marcus Taylor (12 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks)
- Cheikh Sou (12 kills, 2 digs, 1 block)
SENIORS
UP NEXT
The Vikings earned a spot in the Heart of America Conference Tournament as the No. 5 Seed. The Vikings will travel to Oskaloosa to get a rematch agaisnt the 4 seeded Statesmen. The game will begin on Saturday, April 11th at 2:00 PM.
THANK YOU SENIORS
