ST. LOUIS, Mo. – ( BOX SCORE) No. 1 Missouri Baptist became back-to-back NAIA Men’s Volleyball National Invitational Tournament champions on Saturday night, as they defeated No. 3 Grand View (Iowa) in straight sets (38-36, 25-22, 25-21) to win the second national championship in its programs history.

This marked the first-time in Vikings men’s volleyball history they had appeared in the championship final. Missouri Baptist ends its 2016 campaign with a record of 33-1, while Grand View ends the year 20-8.

2016 AVCA-NAIA Player of the Year and 2016 NAIA National Invitational MVP Kyle Foley led all players with 44 assists and two solo blocks.

All-Tournament team award winner Chris Flood led the Spartans with 13 kills, while Mico Janicijevic and Grant Carder each had 12 kills.

All-Tournament team recipients Pedro Cardoso led all players with 16 kills and fellow All-Tournament team award winner Felipe Rosa had 38 assists for GVU.

The Spartans offense hit an impressive .344 as a team and the defense had 13 total team blocks.

Missouri Baptist moved to 21-23 all-time at the tournament, while Grand View moved to 8-5 at the event.

MBU is now just the third team to capture multiple National Invitational Championships, joining Park (Mo.) and California Baptist.

Tournament MVP
Kyle Foley – Sophomore – Setter – Missouri Baptist

All-Tournament Team:
Martin Krueger – No. 5 – Jr. – Setter – Warner University
Adam Kessenich – No. 23 – Sr. – Libero – St. Ambrose
Felipe Rosa – No. 9 – So. – Setter – Grand View
Pedro Cardoso – No. 7 – Jr. – OH – Grand View
Chris Flood – No. 10 – Sr. – OH – Missouri Baptist

Coach of the Year
John Yehling – Missouri Baptist

Sportsman of the Year
CJ Rilveria – Jr. – Libero – Lourdes

Tournament Statistical Leaders
Hitting Percentage – Devin Lofton – Warner - .524%
Kills Per Game – Pedro Cardoso – Grand View – 6.3
Assists Per Game – Felipe Rosa – Grand View – 11.8
Digs Per Game – Adam Kessenich – St. Ambrose – 5.4
Service Aces Per Game – Tony Natalino – St. Ambrose – 0.9
Blocks Per Game – Stephen Moore – Graceland – 1.4

First Place Team
Missouri Baptist

Second Place Team
Grand View

Semifinalist Teams
St. Ambrose
Warner