Park University's No. 8 nationally ranked men's volleyball program had the marquee matchup with the No. 4 Vikings of Grand View University on Tuesday night, earning the sweep of the Vikings, 25-18, 29-27, 25-22.

The Pirates defeat Grand View for the first time since 2018, as the defending NAIA National Champions of the last two years have bottled up Park as of late.. This also marks only the second loss by the Vikings on their home court since 2019.

This year the Pirates remain undefeated at 10-0 and 6-0 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, while Grand View is right next to Park at 9-2 and 6-1 in the Heart.

Park came out in set one with a strong team performance, posting 12 kills and hit .333. The Vikings were held to a .095 hitting percentage as four blocks came in the first set by the Pirates. Mihailo Ivanovic was in on three of the four blocks and had a huge defensive night for the Pirates with nine total blocks.

The Pirates went down 5-2 to start the match, but a string of four scores for Park gave the Pirates their first lead at 6-5.

The score was tied seven different times after this point before Park took the final lead 14-13. Park was able to harness the momentum with a 5-1 run go up 18-14 over Grand View. The Pirates called upon Joao Friedrich and Samuel Essilfie often in set one, coming through with seven and four kills respectively.

On the match, these two continued to be high-percentage attackers with 13 kills apiece in the match. Friedrich hit .333 for the match, while Essilfie was soaring at .400.

Park added to their 4-point lead and captured the last four points in the set to jump ahead of the Vikings, 25-18.

It was another tightly contested tug-of-war in set two with seven lead changes throughout. Interestingly enough, Park had another 18-14 lead later in set two. This time though, the end of the set came about in a different fashion. Grand View fought back to level the playing field with two separate three-point runs to force a Park timeout at 22-22.

After multiple match-points for both teams, the Pirates closed out set two with a 3-0 run to the end the set 29-27. Essilfie smashed the final kill in the second frame to set the tone for the finale.

The third set was trending upward for the Vikings after an 8-8 tie. It began with a 5-0 run that was interrupted at 10-8 by a timeout by Head Coach Michael Talamantes for Park. Out of the timeout, the Vikings finished off the 5-0 run with two blocks and an attack error to bring it to 13-8.

Daniel Isernhagen, Friedrich, and Essilfie each had kills to keep Park in reach at 16-14, Grand View. It was looking like a fourth set was on the horizon in this Top 10 matchup when the Vikings had a four-point cushion, 22-19.

The Pirates dug their heels in and found an extra burst in the waning moments of the match. Some unforced errors by Grand View opened up the door with a service error, attack error, and a bad set all in a row to force a Grand View timeout, 22-21.

This was the start of eight unanswered points that dramatically sealed Park's sweep of Grand View, 25-22. Within this streak was two kills by Friedrich and Essilfie, and three blocks by Park. Ivanovic and Marcus Lucchesi combined for the first block, but Friedrich and Ivanovic each had solo blocks to send Park home with the victory.

Eduardo Faquin is having a great start to his Pirate career and added 23 assists to his 301 total on the season. He is 3^rd in the NAIA in assists and 2^nd in assists per set with 10.38.

Veljko Stojic was next in line in kill numbers with four on the evening and also contributed three block assists.

Lucchesi has been in the Pirate system for the last four years and put forth an excellent blocking performance with four block assists and one solo block.

This is the second straight NAIA Top 10 team that Park has held to a season low in hitting percentage. The Pirates did it over the weekend to No. 7 Georgetown College and now again to No. 4 Grand View, as the Vikings swung a .155. The Pirates on the other hand were right on track with their season average of .307, hitting one tick down tonight at .306.

There have only been three matches that Park has hit below .300 as a team this season. They are 1^st in the Heart in hitting percentage and 7^th in the NAIA.

Friday, February 17, the Pirates will make their return to Breckon Sports Center for a 7pm match with University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy. Watch the live-action here.

Box Score