Pride fall to Missouri Valley 3-0 in weekend finale

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Closing out an eight-day stretch of six matches, the Clarke University men's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 match to Missouri Valley College in the Kehl Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Vikings used a deep group of attackers and a strong defensive back row to keep the Pride off balance throughout the match to finish with set scores of 25-19, 25-12, 25-19 on their way to the sweep.

Finishing as the only player in the match with double digit kills, Luca Hasse finished with 10 kills while also rotating to setter later in the match during certain stretches to also finish with six assists and six digs.

Starting setter Leonardo Leao finished with a match-high 23 assists, as he and Hasse combined to spread the ball around to seven other players with Hasse and Leao also finishing with kills of their own.

MVC finished with 35 digs compared to 25 for the Pride as libero Ruben Baquero led the match with 14 but CU's libero Kendall Killins wasn't far behind with 10 digs of his own for Killins' first match with double digit digs since Feb. 2.

Justin Hernandez led the attacking effort for Clarke with six kills and a .176 hitting percentage while Benen Flores had his second-straight efficient day of four kills on nine swings with just one error for a .333 only playing in the third set.

The Pride will continue in Heart of America Athletic Conference play with a Tuesday night road match in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Mar. 5 when they face Mount Mercy University for a 7:00 p.m. CT start time.