The No. 8 nationally ranked Park Pirates women's volleyball team kept their undefeated conference streak alive on Saturday afternoon, inside Breckon Sports Center. Taking on another Heart of America Conference opponent in Peru State College, the Pirates were able to make quick work of the Bobcats, achieving a three-set sweep with set scores of 25-14, 25-20, and 25-15.

This moves the Pirates to a record of 11-2 overall and 5-0 within conference play. Additionally, Park maintains their undefeated record at home, moving to 10-0 while playing within the friendly confines of Breckon Sports Center. For Peru State, this drops their season record to 6-12 and their conference record to 1-5.

Park would immediately get off to a fast start in set one, taking a 4-0 and eventually an 8-3 lead. Peru State did their best to respond and cut the lead to three with Park up 9-6, but this is the closest that the Bobcats would get. Park pulled away with a 12-3 run that saw the Pirates take a 21-9 lead, more than enough to cruise to a 25-14 win in the first set.

Park would take full advantage of some great serving in set one from Grecia Ung that included two aces on the day with her signature power serve, as well as some great front-line protection from Debora Bernardi. The junior middle blocker recorded five kills and two blocks on the day, without committing a single error. Her .556 hitting percentage led the pirates and proved to be an unstoppable force that the Bobcats could not manage.

Set two would see Aly Anderson and Irene Verdino both go on long serving streaks early to give Park a 12-4 lead.Anderson was called upon for a Pirate Post-Game interview and can be seen below.

W??, Aly Anderson is on this most recent Pirate Post-Game following today's sweep over Peru State! #GoPirates?????
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— Park Pirates (@ParkPirates) September 23, 2023

After the early Park lead, the Bobcats settled in and several attacking errors by the Pirates caused the lead to shrink to 13-11. Park handled the first sign of adversity well and several kills by Ung and Malaina Hensley helped regain control over Peru State at 23-14. Peru State had a second effort to shrink the lead to 24-20, but Hensley plastered the winning point onto the Bobcat's side of the floor to capture the second set 25-20.

Hensley would lead Park in kills on the day, recording ten finishes on her way to being the only Pirate in double digits, while Ung would finish closely behind with nine kills. 

Set three was much of the same for the Pirates. Peru State would give their best effort to keep it close early, tying the set 5-5, but this would prove futile. Park would proceed to go on a monstrous 15-3 run to take a 20-8 lead. Barbara Almeida would play a big role in this run with three of her five kills on the day coming during that stretch. With the score later at 24-15, Peru State would serve their final attempt into the net, and the brooms were out in full force for the Pirates.

Notables
Arianna Marino would record 29 assists on the day.

Ung would lead the Pirates with nine digs, while Hensley finished with seven.

The Pirates had seven service aces on the day and an overall attacking percentage of .236, while playing great defense and holding Peru State to a .036 attacking percentage.

Park will play their first conference road game of the season next Tuesday, September 26 taking on the No. 20 Central Methodist Eagles in Fayette, Mo. This battle of ranked teams will start at 7pm. WATCH HERE

Box Score