The No. 14 nationally ranked Park University women's volleyball program had their Homecoming matchup with MidAmerica Nazarene University on Friday, falling to the Pioneers in four competitive sets 20-25, 25-19, 14-25, 23-25.

The Pirates will fall to 13-4 on the year with their first loss in the Heart of America Athletic Conference at 3-1. The Pioneers get their third victory over Park in the last three seasons, but improve to 10-7 and 3-0 in the Heart.

The Pioneers looked strong out of the gate with 20 kills in the first set for a .312 hitting percentage, earning a 25-20 victory in set one. A 4-0 run go the Pioneers to the lead early at 10-4, forcing a timeout from Park. The Pirates tied it up at 14-14 with a 3-0 run on kills by Izabella Ceratti and Luna Martins. The set would be a toss up for the next several exchanges, but MidAmerica Nazarene broke though for the win by securing last five of six points.

Park was on the offensive in set two with only three errors in set two, but with 11 kills and 40 attacks, they would settle for a hitting percentage of .200; their highest of the match. Park continued to maintain control with an extended lead of 13-8. A kill by Mafalda Bras and a double block from Bras and Loes Peijnenburg forced a Pioneer timeout at 19-13. The writing was on the wall and Park's six-point lead held at 25-19 to tie the match.

It was a tight start to set three with four ties before either side could reach eight points. Park had a 10-8 lead, but that was stolen away by a 3-0 run by MidAmerica Nazarene. Park managed to tie at 11-11 with a Florencia Churin kill, but another big run forced two timeouts by Park as the Pioneers grasped the 16-11 score. MidAmerica Nazarene may have won the third set by the largest margin by a Park opponent in recent memory at 11 points, 25-14.

Both teams were fired up in the fourth set with a full Breckon Sports Center to feed into the atmosphere of the match. The Pirates did what they could to stay close, as MidAmerica Nazarene held a one-to-two point advantage throughout the first half of the set. The Pioneers had a 4-0 run to swing momentum to a 5-point lead at 18-13. The Pirates were doing everything they could to prolong the match with time running out, down 21-17 to MidAmerica Nazarene. Park won five of the next seven points to make things interesting, 23-22. Park faced set point after a MidAmerica Nazarene attack error to make it 24-23, but MidAmerica Nazarene would win on an attack error by Izabella Ceratti by the smallest of margins possible.
Avery Caskey led Park with 15 kills, while Ceratti was having a double-double kind of night on 13 kills and 12 digs.

Bras was very balanced with seven kills and a solid 11 digs. Matching Bras, from the middle, was Churin who earned seven kills.

Joining Ceratti with a double-double was Silvia Albani with 40 assists and 19 digs for the freshman from Verona, Italy. The senior Italian on Park's squad, Irene Verdino, was also big defensively with 18 digs.

Park had a .158 hitting percentage to a .240 for MidAmerica Nazarene.

Park stays at Breckon Sports Center to end the five-match conference home-stand against (RV) Benedictine College at 7pm on Tuesday. WATCH HERE
Box Score