The No. 6 nationally ranked Park University women's volleyball program lined up with their cross conference foe the No. 2 seeded Eagles of Central Methodist University in the 2023 Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Championship. After a long and hard-fought five-set match, Park prevailed over the Eagles 3-2, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18, 20-25, 15-12.

There was much to talk about in this match, including the Pirates' 30^th win on the season at 30-2, which gave Head Coach Michael Talamantes his 400^th win at Park for the women's volleyball team. He now has amassed a Park women's volleyball record of 400-67 and is at 448-102 overall in his women's volleyball collegiate coaching career.

W??, The celebrations don't stop! Coach Talamantes completed 400 wins as the Women's Volleyball Head Coach! ????? pic.twitter.com/yNDBbS4z93

— Park Pirates (@ParkPirates) November 11, 2023

Another big milestone was earned with special timing in the conference championship match with Debora Bernardi's 1,000^th career kill at Park. She needed 10 to reach 1,000^th today, which she was able to do in the 2^nd set.

W??, Another special milestone happened in the 2023 Heart Conference Championship, as Debora Bernardi earned her 1,000th kill as a Pirate! #GoPirates????? pic.twitter.com/5DlZTZB5d7

— Park Pirates (@ParkPirates) November 12, 2023

The match as a whole was the definition of back-and-forth as Park and Central Methodist alternated wins during the entire match.

Park was able to get a huge first set win after the set went through eight ties and four lead-changes. It was an improbable first set win to say the least for Park, trailing the Eagles 8-2 and forced Park to take both of their timeouts in that span. Park then responded with a 7-1 scoring run to tie it up at 9-all. Later in the set two kills by Malaina Hensley and then a double block by Hensley and Bernardi helped Park get a modest lead of 19-16. Park continued to press on with another double block from Bernardi and Arianna Marino and then an attack error from the Eagles to expand the Park lead to 21-16. Hensley led Park with five kills in the set, while Grecia Ung had a large role with four kills as well.

It was not so smooth sailing for the Pirates though as Central Methodist was playing with some major confidence on the road. Despite Park taking a 4-1 lead in set two, the Eagles stromed back to tie it at 5-5. Neither team got much separation until Central Methodist broke free slightly with a three-point lead, 12-9. Despite Park rallying back to trail by one point multiple times, including at 23-22, the Eagles were able to slide past the Pirates, 25-23.

Park was up for the challenge in set three with a 7-4 lead out of the gate. It was a mixture of offense from the Pirates with three kills coming from the likes of Izabella Ceratti, Ung, and Bernardi. Credit the Eagles with hanging in during the third set, but a kill by Bernardi, an Eagle attack error, and a bad set by Central Methodist opened the door to a 17-12 Park lead. The Eagles looked to be in a position to make a late run, but Ceratti ended the comeback with a kill paired with two service aces from Ung to give Park a five-point lead, 23-17. Park captured the last five of six points for the 25-18 win.

The kill numbers between these two teams were at their closest in the fourth set with Park earning 13 and the Eagles taking 12 kills in set four. Like most the other sets, this would be another battle and early on, it was difficult to tell who would come out on top. After a 10-10 tie though, the Eagles ripped off a 6-0 run to lead the Pirates 16-10. Park clawed back in it and were only down three points late at 20-17, but the Eagles were able to stick it out for the 25-20 win.

The 5^th set was exhilarating, as if the rest of the match was not enough of a rollercoaster. The final scramble to 15 points began well for Park with a 4-2 lead. Once again, it was too close to call and both sides were experiencing the high and low swings of the match. After a 4-1 run by the Eagles to grab a 9-7 lead, Coach Talamantes called timeout to help regroup his team before the home stretch. It continued to go back-and-forth but an Ung kill and a Eagle ball handling error by the setter allowed Park to tie at 10. Central Methodist picked up a big service ace to regain the lead 12-11, but then the Pirates out of nowhere took the Eagles by storm with the last four points for the 15-12 win. Ung had three kills to close out the match and finished with a team leading 21.

Park has now won the Heart Conference Tournament Championship three of the last four seasons, all of which have come against Central Methodist as the runner-up.

Marino notably was not 100-percent in today's match and did not play in the Heart semifinals on Tuesday. She still played a great match with a double-double on 49 assists and  11 digs.

Bernardi had a great day defensively as well as on the offensive end with six digs and six total blocks.

Ung led all Pirates with 21 digs to go along with her 21 kills, both landing her new season-highs respectively.

Ceratti answered the call with 19 digs and contributed eight kills, while Irene Verdino and Hensley backed up their teammate with 18 and 16 digs, respectively.

Hensley was third on the team in kills, but like Ung also matched up perfectly her offensive and defensive numbers with 16 kills and 16 digs for the double-double.

Park will be looking to Monday, November 13 at 2pm for the NAIA Women's Volleyball Selection Show which will reveal the Pirates' matchup for the NAIA Opening Round set to be hosted at Breckon Sports Center on Saturday, November 18. WATCH HERE
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