[Men's Volleyball] Mustangs Stun No. 10 Pride in 3-0 Win

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA – Just 24 hours prior, the Mustangs battle five sets to collected a conference win. Tonight, the Mustangs hosted the No. 10 Pride of Clarke University and stunned the nationally-ranked team with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-17) sweep. With this win, the Mustangs roll on a seven-match win streak moving to 10-4 overall and 3-0 in the Heart of America Conference.

To start the match, both teams struggled offensively hitting less than .100. However, the Mustangs tallied four more kills to give them the slight advantage in set one. The Mustangs battled back from being down 5-8 to start the first set when Ben Steffen (SO/Madison, Wis.) entered to knot the set at 9-9 after consecutive kills. Still unable to secure the lead, the Mustangs would trail for much of the first set until Evan Gaskill (SO/Cedar Rapids, Iowa) fired six-straight serves ultimately leading to a 25-23 Mustang win. Jousting back and forth for the lead in the second set, the Mustangs remained in control and widened the spread after kills by Gaskill and Strahil Svilenski (JR/Sofia, Bulgaria) to close out the second 25-19. By the third, the Mustangs had exhausted the Pride tallying six more kills and holding them to a .000 hitting percentage while hitting .294 themselves. The Mustangs jumped ahead and never looked back. Tonight's leaders Julian Armendano (FR/La Plata, Argentina) and Gaskill ended the third and final set with forceful kills on their home court.

The Mustangs totaled 40 kills hitting .219, 34 assists, 33 digs, and five blocks in the match. Individual leaders on the night were Armendano with 14 kills hitting .344 followed by Gaskill with 12 and a .357 hitting percentage. Andrew Colantone (SO/Plainfield, Ill.) handed out 31 assists. Mitchell Wannahwilai (FR/Rockford, Ill.) completed eight digs leading the defense with Svilenski putting up one solo block and three block assists.

Up next, the Mustangs will host a triangular on Saturday, Feb. 16 with matches at 1:00 P.M. versus Viterbo University and 5:00 P.M. versus No. 6 Aquinas College in Hennessey Rec Center.