The (RV) Park University women's volleyball program was up to the tall task of battling No. 24 Benedictine in Atchison, Kan. on Saturday, defeating the Ravens in four sets 25-22, 25-16, 20-25, 27-25.

Park evens the series with Benedictine this year 1-1 and move Park back to .500 in the Heart at 5-5. Park's overall record now stands at 15-9, while Benedictine drops to 17-5 and 8-2 in conference play.

This was the second highest number of total blocks Park had on the season with 13, holding the Ravens to a .152 hitting percentage.

It was tight in set one, until a Park run of six unanswered points was sandwiched between two timeouts. First, the Pirates called a timeout with a Benedictine lead of 11-10, but immediately following a kill by Daniela Gomez and two consecutive double-blocks by Amra Kovac and Avery Caskey gave Park a 15-11 lead. Two more points were ushered in after a Benedictine timeout and the Pirates kept up the attack for a 25-22 set one win. Kovac downed a kill to take it to set two.

Park led by two points in set two at 9-7, but a 5-0 run doubled the Raven's score 14-7. Two kills by Trinity Iverson came down in that span. The Pirates kept a firm grip on the lead and scored six of the last 10 points for the win, 25-16.

It was tied 7-7 in set three, when the Ravens went ahead 10-7 on a 3-0 run. Park countered with a 4-1 run to tie it at 11-11. The Ravens seemed to get the upper hand with another 3-0 run for a 18-4 lead and despite Park coming within one point, a 5-0 spread was more than enough for the Ravens to win set three, 25-20.

Still holding the advantage in the match, the Pirates got to work in set two and led 4-1 in the early going. A 3-0 lead capped off by a Daniela Gomez service ace forced a Raven timeout at 9-6. Like set three there would be some big swings, but Park weathered the storm to stay on top, even after Benedictine tied it at 17-all. This set would be tied again at 19 and 20, but Benedictine had a 5-1 run to bring it to set point at 24-21. Credit the Pirates with a 4-0 run to take the lead 25-24, three back-to-back kills came from Izabella Ceratti. The Pirates used that to take the set and match 27-25.

Ceratti led Park with 17 kills, while Avery Caskey and Iverson were both in double-figure kills, 12 and 11 respectively. Both of Park's setters earned double-doubles, which is the first time in long memory this has come into play, as Jullia Alvarez had 24 assists and 13 digs, while Angelina Rodriguez had 17 assists and 10 digs.

Gomez was so close to a double-double with nine kills and 11 digs.

Aly Anderson led the team in digs with 16, while Irene Verdino was only one behind at 15.

Kovac had a nine block day for the Pirates, while Gomez had six.
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