Park University's No. 1 seeded men's volleyball program appeared in their second Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Championship match and are now Heart Champions for the first time since joining the Heart in 2021.

The Pirates and No. 3 Grand View were the final two teams remaining in the conference tournament on Saturday. It was a match to remember going deep in two of the four sets, as Park won, 27-25, 30-28, 21-25, 25-22.

The Vikings have had success in this tournament with the last two conference tournament championship titles. This is also the first year in recent memory that the Vikings have not hosted throughout the playoffs.

The No. 3 nationally ranked Pirates bump up to 25-1, while the No. 9 nationally ranked Vikings are 19-8. Park's win-streak against Grand View extends to three wins in a row.

The championship match was everything one hoped for out of two of the NAIA's best. Two sets went long and three of the sets had at least eight ties.

In set one, Grand View had the 24-23 lead over Park, but a service error opened the door for Park, tying things at 24-24. Both teams exchanged points and Park took the lead off back-to-back kills from Samuel Essilfie. A Grand View attack error ended the set at 27-25, Park.

The Pirates had their second highest attack percentage of the day of .429 in set one, while Grand View had their best offensive set of the day in set one with 18 kills and hit .464.

The Pirates' were boosted by the play of Samuel Essilfie, who was a hot target with 26 kills and a hitting percentage of .400. Another back and fourth set ensued and in set two each side went further past the standard 25-point cap. With it tied at 23-23, Park and Grand View traded points all the way to 28-28 without either side scoring multiple points in a row. That streak would be broken by the Pirates with a run of three points to take an epic set two, 30-28. Both Mihailo Ivanovic and Essilifie emphatically ended the set with a double block for the final point.
The Vikings showed some resiliency and came back in set three to make the match 2-1. Grand View had their largest lead of the match of 8 points in the set. The Pirates cut into the lead a bit, but in the end dropped the third set to the Vikings, 25-21.

Like most the other sets, you could not tell who would pull out the victory until the closing moments. A 6-3 scoring run in the last nine points of the match favored Park for the 25-22 win. Joao Friedrich and Essilfie both earned kills in that span to bring the first 2023 Heart Conference Tournament Championship victory to Park.

Friedrich, the Heart Player and Attacker of the Year, was the only other Pirates besides Essilfie to break into double-figures in kills. He finished with 16 kills and hit .367.

The Heart Freshman of the Year, Essilife, was just as stout defensively with seven digs to lead all Park players.

The Heart Setter of the Year demonstrated how he got that title with 45 assists in the match.

Park now awaits their pool play assignment from the NAIA on Monday, April 3 during the NAIA Men's Volleyball Selection Show at 4pm.  Watch Selection Show.

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