ST. LOUIS, Mo.- The Royals men's volleyball team traveled up to Missouri Baptist University for the NAIA National Invitational Championship this past weekend as the #4 overall seed. The Royals went up against the #2 overall seed and host Missouri Baptist in their opening match of the tournament. The first two sets were very close, 26-24 and 27-25, but the Royals came up short in both sets. Missouri Baptist did not waste any time and would take the third set from the Royals 25-18 to win the match 3-0. The Royals would bounce back the next day to defeat #8 seed Missouri Valley College 3-0. The Royals would have little trouble with Missouri Valley, disposing of them 25-16, 25-19, 25-18 in the three sets. The win propelled the Royals into the national semi's against the #1 seed Grand View Vikings. The Royals would jump out and take the first set 25-22 over the Vikings and have an early 1-0 lead in the match. Things went south for the Royals in set two as they would fall 25-12. Set three was a very tight set and played well on both sides, but the Vikings would come away with the win 25-23 over the Royals. Warner went into a must win set four to keep their season alive, however, the Vikings had other plans and would take the set from the Royals 25-21 to win the match 3-1. Hui Ding made the All Tournament team and Alexander Gonzalez would lead all players in blocks per game in the tournament. The Royals finish their season 24-6 and a National Semi-Finalist.