Park University's No. 4 seeded Men's Volleyball program delivered the sweep against No. 12 Webber International University on Tuesday to begin 2023 NAIA Men's Volleyball National Championship Pool Play at the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

Park is now 5-1 in pool play matches since the sport moved to the NAIA Championship level in 2019.

Both teams were their respective 2023 conference tournament champions. Webber (Fla.) of the Appalachian Athletic Conference is now 11-6 on the season after today, while the Heart of America Athletic Conference champion Pirates are 26-1 on the year.

The first-ever match between these two programs ends in a Park sweep, 25-20, 25-18, 25-14.

The Pirates went out to a 3-0 start in the match with both of Park's Joao's raking in kills. Joao Friedrich had two kills to begin the match, while the freshman from Lisbon, Portugal, Joao Infante, had his first kill of his NAIA post-season career.

The Pirates used their national tournament experience to their advantage over the first-time qualifier and grew the lead to as much as eight points, 17-9.

The Pirates had 17 kills in set one and hit .500. Friedrich led Park with six kills in set one and was the heavy hitter for the match with 15 kills to lead all other competitors.

Webber was able to close the gap, but not before falling in set one, 25-20.

The Warriors competed well in set two and led 8-7. Park pulled the reversal with a four-point scoring run and the kill by Mihailo Ivanovic gave Park an 11-8 lead. The four-point scoring swing spurred an 8-2 scoring run to flip the match in Park's favor, 15-10.

The Pirates found their footing from this point on and captured the 25-18 victory in set two.

Another 3-0 lead followed in set three for Park and after another strong finish, the Pirates earned their largest set victory of the match at 25-14. Samuel Essilfie had three kills in set three and capped off the night with a service ace.

The Warriors were held down to a .045 hitting percentage, while the Pirates hit above their .324 season average with a .337 tonight.

Leonardo Leao was in double-figure dig numbers with 16 and Essilfie was three digs shy of a double-double with 10 kills and seven digs.

The 2023 Heart Setter of the Year, Eduardo Faquin was keeping the gears turning for the Pirate offense with 29 assists.

Another freshman, Mihailo Ivanovic played like a tournament veteran with five kills and six block assists in the match. As a team, Park had eight blocks compared to Webber's five.

Park takes a day off tomorrow and is slated for a 4pm match with No. 5 Ottawa University (Ariz.) on Thursday in West Des Moines, Iowa at the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex. With a win the Pirates will advance to the semifinals on Friday evening.

No. 4 Park vs No. 5 OUAZ | 4/13
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