The No. 17 nationally ranked Park University women's volleyball program was in Marshall, Mo. on Friday against Missouri Valley College. The Vikings and Pirates had some surprising sets in the 3-2 Missouri Valley win, 25-22, 18-25, 25-12, 27-29, 8-15.

This is a rarity that Park has experienced its first three-match losing streak since 2015, which included AMC and NAIA post-season play, and the last time Park had a three-match losing streak in the regular season was in 2010 before Head Coach Michael Talamantes came on board in 2011.

Missouri Valley earns their first win over Park since 2015 and their first win over Park in Heart of America Athletic Conference play. The Pirates are now 13-6 and 3-3 in conference play, after starting 3-0. The Vikings are 12-8 on the year with a 4-3 Heart record, after an impressive sweep of No. 25 Benedictine College on Saturday, October 5.

Nothing can compare to the start of the match, where the Vikings had Park on the ropes at 21-12, but the tables were completely flipped with Angelina Rodriguez serving with a 13-0 run for Park to deliver an opening set win, 25-22. No other words to describe that but shock and awe. Three kills were registered by Avery Caskey in that span, and two double-blocks by Amra Kovac, Mafalda Bras and Caskey as well. Rodriguez did the honors with a service ace to close out the set.

Another huge run began set two, but this time the Vikings were on the better end of it with an 11-0 run. Late in the set Park began to rally with a 5-1 run to make the deficit 21-18, but the Vikings finished things off with a 4-0 streak for the 25-18 win.

The bipolar match continued to unfold in front of the Viking crowd, as Park started set three with a 5-0 streak. Florencia Churin tacked on two kills to give Park a 9-3 lead and Kovac added on to the lead with two kills of her own to make it 13-6. Park continued to take off with 12 of the last 18 points of set three, including a 4-0 run to end the set. Dorianna Braxton earned a late set service ace and Maria Pim heated up with two kills to close set three, 25-12.

Set four was the tightest set of them all with nine ties and three lead changes. Park was able to tie it at 19-19 after a Missouri Valley service ace and attack error, to which the Vikings came back with a 3-0 run for a 22-19 lead. Facing a set point, the Pirates went to Caskey three straight times for key kills to tie the match at 24-24. It was a point for Missouri Valley, but Caskey and Mafalda Bras came back with kills to give Park the upper hand 26-25. The Vikings did the same the next two points and Caskey was able to answer with a kill for the 26-26 tie. That was the last Pirate point though, as the Vikings had two kills for the 29-27 win.

A 5-0 run for Missouri Valley in the final frame put them ahead, 7-3. Park went back and forth with the Vikings after this for a few more points, but a 3-0 run for Missouri Valley doubled Park's score, 12-6. The Vikings then secured the match victory with a 3-0 run to end it, 15-8.

Park's best hitting percentage came in set three with a .279, while the Vikings broke out in the fifth set at .500. Park had the advantage in hitting percentage by a sliver, .157 to .134. Interestingly, the Pirates had six ball handling errors to only one for Missouri Valley, and while Park had seven service aces, they also had nine service errors.

It was a career night for Caskey with 20 kills and she hit .294.

Bras was also in double-figure kills with 14 and matched that in digs for a double-double.

Pim earned a new match-high in kills with seven and was the third most effective offensive weapon for Park behind Bras.

Verdino earned 26 digs on the match, while Churin had seven blocks in the match.

Rodriguez earned a double-double on 42 assists and 12 digs as well.

The Pirates and No. 21 Central Methodist University are featured in Tuesday's Heart Game of the Week at 7pm in Fayette, Mo.. WATCH HERE
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