ALLIANCE, Ohio—Mount Union's men's volleyball team took down No. 4-seed Trine in four sets, 21-25, 25-22, 25-20 and 25-17, in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League semifinals Friday night.
With the win Mount Union advances to the MCVL tournament championship on Saturday at 3 PM hosted by Mount Union. Mount Union will take on No. 3 Seed Baldwin Wallace which took down the No. 2-seed Wittenberg in four sets on Friday night. This is a rematch of the 2023 MCVL Championship which saw Baldwin Wallace take the title.
The Purple Raiders (19-8, 8-0 MCVL) was led by the offensive player of the year in
Michael Bowler (Broadview Heights / Brecksville-Broadview Heights) with 15 kills.
Jack McClure (Massillon / Jackson) and
Jacob Nussdorfer (Lewis Center / Olentangy) finished with 12 and 11 kills respectively.
Will Heeney (Hudson / Walsh Jesuit) finished the night with a game-high 47 assists while the defensive player of the year for the MCVL in
Peyton Koszelak (Eden, N.Y. / Eden) picked up 12 digs and
Aaron Armour (Waukesha, Wis. / Catholic Memorial) dug out 11 balls.
Trine (15-8, 5-3 MCVL) was led by Kevin Boncaro with 15 kills and 12 digs while Xander Ikusz finished with 24 assists.
Mount Union dropped the first set as Trine got out to leads of 6-2, 14-7 and 20-12 before Mount Union closed the set on a 7-2 run but wasn't enough to overcome the deficit.
The second set was a tight set until Trine picked up a couple of cards which led to a Mount Union 4-1 run taking a 14-12 lead. Trine tied it back up at 15 but Mount Union powered out to a 19-15 lead. Trine got within one three times in the final seven points but Mount Union was able to pull away in the final two points of the set.
Set three started with a 6-2 run for Mount Union which didn't look back from there keeping a four-point cushion the rest of the set bringing the momentum into the final set of the night.
The final set saw an 8-7 lead for Trine to start the set but an 8-1 run from Mount Union opened the lead out to 15-9 which Trine could not recover from as Mount Union got a lead as large as eight in the final points taking the set.
Mount Union hosts tomorrows MCVL Championship at 3 PM taking on a familiar foe in Baldwin Wallace.
