ALLIANCE, Ohio-- Mount Union's men's volleyball team won a five set thriller over Baldwin Wallace (23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 19-25 and 15-12) Saturday afternoon to claim the Purple Raiders second ever tournament title.
 
Mount Union, now 20-8 overall, claims the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the selections being announced Monday at 10:00 a.m. on NCAA.com.
 
The Raiders got 42 assists from Tournament MVP senior setter Will Heeney (Hudson / Walsh Jesuit). Also on the All-Tournament team was senior outside hitter Jack McClure (Massillon / Massillon Jackson) and sophomore libero Peyton Koszelak (Eden, N.Y. / Eden) who finished with 19 kills and 17 digs respectively.
 
Middle hitter Michael Bowler (Broadview Heights / Brecksville-Broadview Heights) finished the match with 12 kills while McClure also picked up 11 digs.
 
Baldwin Wallace (19-11) was led by Ted Hofmeister and Daniel Latham with 25 and 21 kills respectively.
 
Baldwin Wallace came firing to start the match leading 6-0 and 11-2. Mount Union slowly battled back to a 16-12 deficit. Baldwin Wallace pushed the lead back out to 19-13 but a 7-1 run from Mount Union tied the set up at 20. The set was tied at 21,22 and 23 before Baldwin Wallace closed out the set 25-23.
 
The second set saw Mount Union jump out to an early 6-4 lead. Both teams were trading points throughout the set as neither team had more than a two point lead until Mount Union finished the set on a 4-1 taking the set 25-22.
 
Mount Union came out firing in the third set again with a 5-2 lead. Baldwin Wallace responded with an 8-0 run leading 10-5. Mount Union battled all the way back, taking a 18-16 lead off of a 7-2 run. With ties at points 18 to 23 Mount Union buckled down and won the final two points of the set to take the 25-23 victory.
 
Baldwin Wallace took an early 7-4 set four lead which they didn't give up the whole set as Mount Union tied the set at 10 and 11 but Baldwin Wallace used a 10-4 run to take a six point lead and cruised to the fourth set 25-19 victory.
 
The final set of the day had its fireworks to share. Both teams tied at points 1, 2 and 3 with Baldwin Wallace taking a 5-3 lead. Baldwin Wallace held a 10-8 lead later in the set but a 4-0 run from Mount Union gave the home side a 12-10 lead. Another 2-0 run after a Baldwin Wallace point pushed the lead out to three at 14-11. With Baldwin Wallace earning the next point a service error from Baldwin Wallace ended the match giving Mount Union the 15-12 victory.
 
Mount Union will enter the NCAA Tournament with an 11 game winning streak and will watch the selection show on Monday at 10 am.