ST. LOUIS, Missouri – Mount Union men's volleyball team defeated Mount St. Joseph in four sets (25-18, 22-25, 25-22 and 15-12) in the semifinals of the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League tournament.
 
Senior libero Steven Grenier (Hawthorn Woods, Ill. / Lake Zurich) dug out his 1,000 career dig in the third set of the Purple Raiders victory. Grenier is the first man to achieve this feat.
 
The Raiders (13-11) were led by Mark Bruns (Columbus / Upper Arlington) who had 14 kills with a hitting percentage of .550. Luke Trzeciak (Cranberry, Pa. / Seneca Valley) and Sam Matonis (Macedonia / Walsh Jesuit) finished with 11 and 10 kills in the match.
 
Jeremy Leyden (Cuyahoga Falls / Archbishop Hoban) and Will Heeney (Hudson / Walsh Jesuit) finished with 23 and 18 assists respectively  while Grenier finished with a game-high 21 digs.
 
Mount St. Joseph (11-10) was led by Jason Hascher with 24 kills.
 
Set one the Raiders had jumped out to an 8-4 lead early on. The Raiders got their largest lead of 10 four times with the last time being 22-12. Mount Union finished out the set with an attack error from Mount St. Joseph for a 25-18 set one win.
 
In the second set Mount Union got off to a 9-7 lead. But a 13-6 run for Mount St. Joseph gave them the lead of 20-15. The Raiders clawed back to 24-22 but a kill from Mount St. Joseph ended the set and the win for the lions of 25-22.
 
Set three saw 11 different ties including a tie at point 22. But the Raiders finished off the set on a 3-0 run with separate kills from Matonis, Trzeciak and the final kill from Bruns to take set 3 25-22.
 
Early on in set four the game was tied at 6 until a 3-0 run from Mount Union. The game was once again tied this time at 16 and a 4-0 run for the Raiders pushed the lead out to 10-16. Mount St. Joseph got within two at 22-20 but another 3-0 run from Mount Union finished off the set.
 
Mount Union stays alive and advances to the MCVL tournament championship match tomorrow afternoon taking on the winner of Fontbonne (Mo.) and Trine (Ind.) which will occur at 4 pm EST tomorrow at Mabee Gymnasium located on Fontbonne University's campus.