The ninth-ranked Mount Mercy men's volleyball team used a balanced  attack to defeat Graceland, 3-1, in a Heart of America Conference  match at the Hennessey Recreation Center Saturday.

The set scores were 25-19, 25-23, 21-25, 25-15.

The victory lifted the Mustangs to 15-6 overall and 7-1 in the league,  just a half-game behind Grand View for first place.

Andrew Colantone handed out 34 assists. Mitchell Wannahwilai had 17  digs and Evan Gaskill had 16.

Julian Armendano led Mount Mercy with 11 kills. Nikola Stoimenov had  10 kills, Ben Steffen seven and Gaskill seven. Strahil Svilenski  blocked eight shots and Steffen stopped seven.

Graceland fell to 5-12 overall and 1-6 in the conference.