The Park University No. 6 women's volleyball team entered 2022 with matches on their home court, defeating all three of their challengers, Morningside University (3-0), Saint Ambrose University (3-1), and McPherson College (3-0). An excellent tribute to the 50^th season of Park women's volleyball since starting the program in 1973.

Park gels in their home tournaments in Breckon Sports Center and have now won 25 straight Park hosted, regular season tournament matches since 2010.

Not to mention their home match win streak is now up to 70 consecutive wins going back to the 2018, their NAIA National Championship season.

Park vs Morningside Box Score – 8/25

The Pirates were off to the races in the home opener against Morningside, earning the sweep 25-18, 25-7, 25-21. Park had its highest attack percentage on the weekend in the match against the Mustangs, hitting .286.

Park had to comeback down 4-1 to start the match, but regained the lead at 9-8. The match remained tight throughout, until 20-18 on the scoreboard. At this stage, Park put the match away with five straight points, including two kills from Izabella Ceratti. Ceratti is a junior from Tijuana, Mexico and transferred in from Hill College. She instantly made a difference in a Pirate uniform as the leading scorer with 11 kills for the match, and earned 25 kills for the tournament.

In set two, Park maintained the pace they left off at in set one and quickly garnered a 17-3 lead. Ball control was essential for Park as no service errors were committed in set two. Three blocks were claimed in the set with a steady stream of offense to back it up. Three Pirates had at least three kills in the set, including Ceratti, Malaina Hensley, and Debora Bernardi.

The final set was much more like the first, as Morningside held their ground throughout play. The tightly contested match was tied 21-21, leading to a Michael Talamantes timeout for Park. The five-time conference coach of the year called the timeout at the right time, as four straight points went to Park to defeat the Mustangs, 25-21.

Ceratti was the only Pirate in double-figure kills, but three teammates were close to her numbers as Grecia Ung had eight kills, while Bernardi and Hensley each had nine.

Ung had an impressive defensive effort with 17 digs. Irene Verdino had the next highest number of digs with 12 and led Park with three service aces.

Park vs St. Ambrose Box Score – 8/26

St. Ambrose did not make it easy in the second match of the tournament with a four set battle on Claude English Court, 25-18, 20-25, 25-16, 25-23. Park had an excellent start with a .520 hitting percentage against the Fighting Bees in set one, the highest attack percentage in a set for the tournament.

Park had control of the match in the early going, although their lead did not really set in until the 12-11 mark. With just a one point lead, Park was able to secure eight of the next 10 points to break the match open, 20-13. That was all she wrote in set one, as the Fighting Bees could not overcome the deficit. Four service errors by St. Ambrose and one service ace by Luna Martins gave Park the advantage from the serve. Ung made her presence felt with five kills to lead off the match.

Park got off to a 6-1 lead in set two, but the Fighting Bees did not go away and eventually took the 11-10 lead. The match really took a turn after being tied 13-13, as a 10-3 scoring advantage for St. Ambrose took them nearly to the finish line. Nine kills by the Bees middle hitter, Mackenzie Grafton, was impressive to note.

Park gained separation in set three with a 6-1 scoring run that gave Park the 12-8 lead. The lead would only grow for Park, as they capped off the match with five of the last six points for the 25-16 win.

Four service aces by Park and two service errors by the Fighting Bees was a key difference in the third set. In all, the Fighting Bees had 10 service errors and Park had nine service aces for the match, an insurmountable point difference in the end.

The final set came down to the final few possessions with the match tied 22 all. The 2022 NAIA Third Team All-American effectively put her stamp on the end of the match with a kill and a block for the 23^rd and 24^th points. Hensley, a 2022 First Team All-American, took the honor of the final point for the 25-23 win.

This match, Ung was the only Pirate in double-figure kills with 12 for the match. Ceratti, Bernardi, and Hensley followed close at hand with nine, eight, and seven kills respectively.

Ung earned the double-double with 11 digs on the match, while Verdino led defensively with 19 digs. Hensley was in double-figure digs as well with 11.

Park vs McPherson College Box Score – 8/26

Park finished what they set out for with one more sweep on the weekend, defeating McPherson 25-17, 25-21, 25-23.

An early four-point lead remained intact over the majority of set one, but at the 15-11 mark, the Pirates took things into their own hands with six of the next seven points scored. The remaining action played into Park's hands perfectly as Park's lead grew to as much as nine before ending the set at 25-17.

It was another tight contest in set two through the halfway mark of the set. At 12-12, Park scored five of the next six points for the 17-13 lead. The Bulldogs kept nipping at the heels of the Pirates, but in the end it would be to no avail as Park maintained the four-point victory, 25-21. Ung continued to have the goods with six kills in set two, after just coming off five kills in set one.

Ung would reach her second double-double in both of her matches on Saturday. Against the Bulldogs her final line was 13 kills and 12 digs. Ung joins Park's ranks from Lewis-Clark State where she was a two-time First Team All-Cascade Conference award winner and hails from Sonora, Mexico.

Despite the quick 6-1 start from the Bulldogs in the final set, the Pirates would not be denied on their home court. There were six ties that the Pirates and Bulldogs had before Park overtook the Bulldogs 19-18, their first lead in the set. At 20-20 on the board, both teams went on separate three-point scoring swings that built up the tension even more in the building, but the Pirates prevailed with the final two points for the 25-23 victory. Jullia Alvarez another 2022 NAIA All-American was subbed in to serve on match point and she delivered an exhilarating ace for the win.

The advantage from the block went to the Pirates with eight block assists and two solo blocks compared to only two block assists for the Bulldogs.

Arianna Marino showcased her skills as the primary setter this weekend and put up 31, 42, and 35 assists in the tournament for a grand total of 108 or 10.80 assists per set.

As a team, Park hit .243 in the tournament and held their opponents to a .123.

Park will play three NAIA Top 10 opponents next weekend in North Sioux City, Iowa at the Labor Day Classic against No. 4 Concordia University (Neb.), No. 5 Northwestern (Iowa), and No. 9 Midland University (Neb.). Their first match Friday is at 6pm at the United Sports Academy and then they play two more matches on Saturday at 1pm and 5pm.