Park University's No. 5 nationally ranked men's volleyball program traveled to Oskaloosa, Iowa on Tuesday for a match with Heart of America Athletic Conference opponent No. 9 William Penn University. After five daring sets by both sides, the Pirates collected the 3-2 victory, 19-25, 25-17, 25-22, 18-25, 15-12.

Park earns their 19^th straight victory against No. 5 William Penn University, tying Park's longest win streak in program history that goes back to the 2007 season of 30-3 under Head Coach Cory Frederick.

Their Heart record improves to 14-0 and are the primary contender for the Heart Regular Season Title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament on March 25, March 29, and April 1. If they clinch the No. 1 seed they will have the opportunity to have home court advantage throughout the tournament.

William Penn and Grand View are tied for second in the conference with 11-4 Heart records and Park owns the head-to-head record against both schools.

In set one, the Statesmen went ahead 5-4 and carried the lead the rest of the match. Park stayed close with and were two points away from William Penn at 19-17, but William Penn scored the last six of eight points for the win, 25-19.

The lead in set two changed hands four times in the early going. As the match went on Park's 8-7 lead was widened an insurmountable margin, scoring eight of the next 10 points for the 16-9 advantage.

Through the first two sets, Joao Friedrich earned exactly five kills per set for 10 total through that point in the match. When it was all said and done, Friedrich would be the leader in kills with 25 on a .327 attack percentage.

A run of four gave Park a 10-point lead at 22-12 and soon evened up the match at 1-1, following a 25-17 set score. Park hit .522 in the second set on 15 kills and held William Penn to their lowest offensive output of the evening with nine kills and a hitting percentage of .091.

The Pirates had their most kills of the match in the third set with 16.  And another monster run of six points turned a four-point deficit into a 10-9 lead. Both sides were tied seven times after this point.

The Pirates were tied 20-20, until two huge blocks from the reigning Heart Defender of the Week stopped the Statesmen in their tracks on two back-to-back blocks, giving Park a 22-20 lead. Park had the cushion they needed for the 25-22 third set win.

Like Park did in the second set, so did William Penn do in the fourth, as a great response from the Statesmen ensued. William Penn took a 7-1 lead, which Park was never able to recover from until finally arriving at a 25-18 set four.

It was a race to 15 points in the final set and both teams emptied the tank in the last moments of the match. Samuel Essilfie eclipsed 20 kills with 21 tonight and in the fifth set he took over. A 10-9 Statesmen lead was turned into a 12-10 Park lead following kills by Essilfie and Friedrich, and a key block by Friedrich to force a William Penn timeout.

The last three-of-four points were garnered by Park, all three of which were kills from the swing of Essilfie to decide the match 15-12.

Isernhagen joined Friedrich and Essilfie in double-digit kills with 11 and his two solo blocks was second on the team. His teammate and fellow Heart Defender of the Week award winner from earlier in the season led Park with three solo blocks and two block assists.

Essilfie earned a double-double for his great defensive effort to lead Park with 14 digs. Leonardo Leao was right behind Essilfie with 13 digs in the match.

Eduardo Faquin barely missed out on a double-double as well with 48 assists and nine digs.

The Pirates will look to this Saturday as they face Graceland University in Breckon Sports Center at 2pm.  Watch the live-action here.
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