Pride third set rally falls short in 3-0 loss to Grand View
DUBUQUE, Iowa - In their first Heart of America Athletic Conference match of the 2025 season, the Clarke University men's volleyball team fell in a 3-0 final score to Grand View University with set scores of 25-14, 25-13, and 29-27.
Both the first and second sets were tight to a point before significant Vikings runs as the first set was 9-8 prior to GVU going on a 7-0 run that extended to 13-2 to get it to 22-10 as the second set was at a 15-12 advantage for Grand View about midway through as they would go on a 10-1 run to finish the set with six of those 10 points being aces including the final four.
Clarke woudl change the lineup up a bit, giving freshmen Noah Whalen and Kyle Scott starting spots as they would provide an impact on the Pride in a limited fashion with Whalen earning three kills, an assist, and an ace while Scott produced a block to give CU some energy despite trailing in the match and most of the third set.
Behind in the third 23-21, Whalen would earn back-to-back kills to tie the set at 23-23 then record an ace to put Clarke at set point before the Vikings called their first timeout of the match. The set would go into extra points where the turning point for Grand View was back-to-back CU hitting errors but a Justin Hernandez kill tied the score again at 27-27 but Daniel Galili from GVU would take matters into his own hands with a kill and an ace on back-to-back points to close out the set and match.
The Vikings played mostly mistake free offensively, recording only eight errors in the three sets with 12 or more kills to finish with a .478 team hitting percentage with Clarke finishing at their best team hitting percentage of the early parts of the season at .206 with 29 kills on 63 attempts but 16 errors with their third set offense producing 16 of those 29 kills for a .385 hitting percentage in the set.
Galili and Hernandez both led their teams in kills as the lefties both hit .500 or better and combined for 27 kills as Galili led all players in the match with 14 kills and only one error for a .591 and Hernandez led the Pride with 13 kills on 20 swings with only three errors.
The Grand View pair of Leonardo Annichini and Ryan Griffel had solid nights in support of Galili as Annichini had 12 kills and three aces with a .588 hitting percentage while Griffel had nine kills.
Clarke's Eduardo Hernandez had a strong night of his own with seven kills on 13 attempts with three errors as he added two aces and a block assist to score 9.5 points for CU.
Pride men's volleyball will stay at home this weekend for another Heart match on Saturday, Feb. 15 when they host Graceland University for the night cap of a full day of action in the Kehl Center with first serve scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT.