Park University's No. 1 seeded men's volleyball program pushed through the No. 5 seeded Spartans of Missouri Baptist in the 2023 Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinals on Wednesday, 25-21, 21-25, 25-18, 25-15.
The 2023 Heart Regular Season Champions improve to 24-1, while the No. 11 nationally ranked Spartans now are 21-8 on the year.
It was an intense start to the match with eight ties and three lead changes in set one. At 11-10 Park in the first set, the Pirates were able to grab the momentum with four-of-five points to increase their lead to 15-11.
Samuel Essilfie and
Joao Friedrich each had a kill followed by a triple block by
Mihailo Ivanovic,
Samuel Essilfie, and
Veljko Stojic.
This ended up being a difference, as Park went on to win the set, 25-21. This was the highest hitting percentage the Spartans would have all match with a .217 and they hit .187 altogether.
 The Pirates had 15 kills in the first and third sets, but the Spartans had more kills in set two than Park with 14 to the Pirates' eight. Park also hit their low for the match at .000.
Both sides kept it close in set two again. This time around the Spartans gained the upper hand with a five-of-six scoring run to give them a 19-16 lead. Missouri Baptist ran with the momentum and evened the match score at 1-1 after a 25-21 second set win.
Five blocks were registered by Missouri Baptist and Park in set two, and both teams had 11 blocks when the match concluded.
In the third set, there was only one point separating these two teams but two straight kills by
Daniel Isernhagen and a Spartan attack error led to a timeout with Park in the lead, 10-6.
Park's Heart Player/Attacker of the Year and Heart Freshman of the Year were striking it well from outside, as
Joao Friedrich and Essilfie went over the 10 kill mark in set three. Friedrich had 15 kills, while Essilfie led the Pirates with 16 kills and hit an impressive .480.
Friedrich was on tonight's Pirate Post-Game giving his thoughts of the match.
A massive 8-2 run gave Park the comfortable 21-11 lead in set three, and was key to unlock the 25-18 win to go up 2-1 in the match over Missouri Baptist.
Park went out to an 11-3 lead in set four, featuring a 7-1 scoring swing. Missouri Baptist used both their timeouts during this stretch to regroup. The Pirates showed no signs of slowing down though and led by as much as 10, 15-5.
Five Pirates had kills in the last set, including Essilfie with five and
Mihailo Ivanovic with three.
Eduardo Faquin, the Heart Setter of the Year, threaded 38 assists and recovered four digs.
Leonardo Leao was the only Pirate with double-figure dig numbers with 13 for the match.
Isernhagen besides having eight kills offensively, made opposing attackers think twice with six blocks. Essilfie and Ivanovic had great effort at the net as well with four and three blocks, respectively.
The ball remains in Park's court, Claude English Court to be exact, as the Pirates are set to take on No. 3 Grand View University on Saturday, April 1 for the Heart Conference Championship match in Breckon Sports Center.
Watch the live-action here.
Box Score
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