The No. 6 nationally ranked Park University women's volleyball program began Heart of America Athletic Conference play on Tuesday in Breckon Sports Center, defeating Missouri Valley College 25-14, 25-23, 25-16.

The Pirates are on a four-game win-streak after their sweep of the Vikings and are now 7-2 on the year. The Vikings were just in Breckon Sports Center on Saturday for two matches in the Park Classic and have moved to 5-7 after unfavorable outcomes for them in Parkville, Mo.

The Vikings tested the Pirates multiple times during the match, like at the beginning of set one with the Vikings ahead of Park 8-6. From there a three-point run tipped the lead back in Park's favor 9-8. The Vikings were able to tie it up again at 9-9, but then the floodgates were opened with a six-point run rushing in for the Pirates. The 16-10 advantage for Park gave them the space they needed the rest of the way to secure a 25-14 win.

Park looked to build off the momentum from set one and succeeded by taking the first four points of set two. In fact, the Pirates had three service winners, two by Grecia Ung and one by Irene Verdino, within the first 10 points of set two. Park continued to gain on the Vikings and led by as much as eight in set two. The Vikings were able to chase down the Pirates with six-straight points to make it 24-23. After a Viking timeout, Ung drilled the set winning kill 25-23. Ung was Park's leader with 11 kills tonight and even more impressive was her six service aces.

The Pirates usually picked up the pace in the middle of each of the sets and in set three expanded a three-point lead to a nine-point advantage after seven unanswered Pirate points. Within that span, two kills were earned by Ung, and one by Malaina Hensley and Barbara Almeida each. Unlike set two, Park rode off in the sunset with four consecutive points to end the match 25-16.

Izabella Ceratti was a key contributor for the Pirates with a double-double on 10 kills and 12 digs. Joining Ceratti with double-double output was last week's Heart Setter of the Week Arianna Marino. Marino went for 34 assists and 11 digs against the Vikings.

Going for double-digit dig numbers was Hensley with 11 digs to match Marino.

Park has just started the first match of a long home stint to begin conference play and the Pirates will be back in Breckon Sports Center on Friday, September 15 at 7pm. WATCH HERE

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