Mustangs Sweep Pride on Senior Night, Enter Postseason as No. 3 Seed

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Mount Mercy's men's volleyball team closed out its regular season with a senior night sweep of Clarke on Tuesday night at Hennessey Recreation Center. The Mustangs won by set scores of 25-18, 25-12, and 25-13 to clinch the Heart of America Athletic Conference North Division title.

The Mustangs opened senior night with a tight first set. Despite trailing by no more than three points, they battled back to tie the set at 17-17, then pulled ahead to take it 25-18.

Mount Mercy cruised through the second set, hitting a match-high .632 with 14 kills on 19 attempts to win 25-12. The Mustangs completed the sweep with a 25-13 win in the third. Defensively, Mount Mercy held Clarke to a hitting percentage no higher than .083, including a match-low -.048 in the second set.

Guglielmo Illotti led the Mustangs with 14 kills on 21 attempts, hitting .571. Kevin Fielder and Pere Font Torres each added five kills, with Fielder hitting .444. Gustavo Kehl Bauer paced the offense with 27 assists, while Maks Cabajewski chipped in eight. Richard Struska led the defense with 11 digs.

Justin Hernandez led the Pride with 10 kills, hitting .192, and added five digs. Benjamin Reiser recorded 16 assists.

Mount Mercy (21-5, 15-4 Heart) enters the postseason as the No. 3 seed and will host sixth-seeded William Penn on Saturday, April 12, at 2 p.m. at Hennessey Recreation Center.