Athletics Headlines: Men's Volleyball Eliminated from Tourney Play

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April 22, 2006

Men's Volleyball Eliminated from Tourney Play

RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Sixth-seed Newman (Kan.) pulled off the first major upset of the 2006 NAIA Men’s Volleyball National Invitational Tournament Friday as the Jets knocked off third-seed Missouri Baptist 30-18, 25-30, 32-30, 30-26.

With the win, Newman (1-1) secures second-place in Pool A and will take on second-seed and tournament host California Baptist at 7 p.m. tonight in the second semifinal. Lindenwood (Mo.) and Missouri Valley will play in the first semifinal at 4:30 p.m. The Jets improve to 18-11 overall.

Missouri Baptist (0-2), which fails to advance out of pool play for the second straight season, concludes its season at 19-9.

Phil Goedeker finished with 20 kills to lead the Spartans, and he also hit a team-high .600 (20-2-30).

After the teams split the first 2 games, Missouri Baptist jumped out to a 10-5 lead on a block by Matt Mahoney and Bryce Hickerson. The Spartans maintained a seemingly comfortable lead as Matt Washechek gave them a 15-11 lead with a kill. The Jets, though, scored 14 of the next 19 points, the last point in the run coming from one of Goedeker’s 2 attack errors that gave Newman a 25-20 lead.

Then it was the Spartans’ turn to mount a comeback. A service error followed by consecutive attack errors brought Missouri Baptist within 27-26. Smith pushed it to 28-26 with a kill, but 2 more attack errors by the Jets tied it at 28-28. Twice the Jets had game-point, and a Joel May kill tied it for the last time at 30-30. A Spartan service error followed by a Sanderson kill put the game away and gave the Jets an emotional lift they carried over into the third game.

Newman was solid in the third game, hitting .361 (19-6-36) while the Spartans hit just .216 (15-7-37).

Mahoney finished with 13 kills and 6 blocks. Hickerson added 12 kills, 4 digs and 4 blocks, and May tallied 10 kills.

The teams combined for 37 service errors.