Pride pull off five-set victory in first Heart road test

LAMONI, Iowa - Looking for a bounce back effort following their Heart of America Athletic Conference opener on Tuesday, the Clarke University men's volleyball team earned a 3-2 victory over Graceland University on Friday night.

With no team earning back-to-back set wins until the final two sets of the match, the Pride would pull out a pair of clutch set wins in the fourth and fifth for the scores to go 20-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-19, and 15-11.

It was the middle blockers that led the way for the Pride as Zachary Barr and Stephen Lewandowski led CU in points scored with Barr at the top of the all players in the match with 12.5 points scored with a match-high 10 kills on 20 swings with only one error for a .450 hitting percentage as he added four total blocks with one solo and three block assists.

Lewandowski produced more blocks with five block assists and a solo while finishing with eight kills for 11.5 points scored, tying that mark with Benen Flores, who finished with nine kills and three block assists as Tye Ojala had 11 points with six kills, four total blocks (two assists and two solos) while adding two aces on the serve.

The deciding fifth set got off to a shaky start for Clarke as the Yellowjackets jumped out to a 5-2 lead before CU would score six of the next nine points to tie the set at 8-8 as they would go on to score four of the final five points to close out the match.

Pride men's volleyball will stay on the road for their second match in as many days when they face No. 2 Park University for a 12:00 p.m. CT scheduled first serve against the Pirates.