The Park University women's volleyball team began their postseason journey with the quarterfinal round of the Heart Conference Volleyball Tournament against the Mount Mercy Mustangs. These teams only played each other once in conference play with Park walking away with a 3-1 victory on October 25th in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Pirates would once again emerge victorious; this time in straight sets to end the Mustangs season and advance to the semifinal round on Tuesday evening against the Benedictine Ravens.

This was Park's ninth victory in a row during a season that has been more tumultuous than Pirate fans and players are used to experiencing, but they are playing their best ball of the season at the most important time. This win moves the Pirates to 23-9 overall with every match moving forward being a win or go home situation. 

The first set was extremely tight throughout the early going. There were fourteen ties on the way to being evened up at 19-19 where one of the most crucial sequences in the match played out. A kill by the Mustangs' Sam Schrange gave Mount Mercy a one point lead and forced Park to call their second timeout of the set. This did not initially pay off, and the Mustangs would bring the Pirates to the brink at 24-20. At this point Park made some substitutions to get back to their starting lineup of Grecia Ung, Trinity Iverson, Izabella Ceratti, Jullia Alvarez, Aly Anderson, and Irene Verdino. 

They went to work, starting with a kill into open space in the back row by Iverson. Next, an error by Bella Dantzler brought the score to 24-22. This was followed up with a kill by Iverson on an overpass from the Mustangs side. Hallie Bedier mistruck an attack into the next and the set was tied at 24-24 before anyone had time to take in what just happened. Mount Mercy used a timeout to stop the Pirate momentum and an attack error by Daniela Gomez had Park with their backs against the wall for the second time. Once again, a great lineup change was used when Avery Caskey and Angelina Rodriguez checked in, and Caskey delivered three straight kills to give Park the comeback victory in set one 27-25. 

The early part of set two greatly resembled the first with a tie at 5-5. However, Park would go on a 7-2 run that was highlighted by a couple of Ceratti kills that broke through the blocks to go up 14-7 and force a timeout from the Mustangs. Mount Mercy would eventually battle back to be down only a single point at 23-22, but Amra Kovac, who has been coming on very strong with a late season blocking presence, slammed the door shut with a solo block to give Park the 25-23 win in set two. 

The third set proved to be calmer waters for the Pirates when they got out to a 7-1 lead. The highlight of this set happened when Grecia Ung stepped into the serving spot with Park up 9-3. She rattled off four aces in five points, including three straight, in a display that showed off a full return to form after missing most of conference play with a broken finger. Park cruised to a 25-15 victory and received a standing ovation for what may be the final home match of the season. 
 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Park University Athletics (@parkpirates)

Notables

Ceratti led the Pirates with kills in the match and was the only Pirate in double figures with 14 kills.

Rodriguez picked up a double-double with 11 assists and 11 digs that was second for Park in both of those categories.

Ung had an impressive day from the serving spot with 5 aces and also led the Pirates in digs with 13.

Alvarez had the most Pirate assists with 17 assists and nearly had a double-double herself with 9 digs.

Kovac and Iverson continued their presence in the middle of the floor with 3.0 blocks a piece. 

Park hit .205 on the day and only had 13 errors throughout the match compared to .095 and 26 for Mount Mercy.

The rematch against Benedictine on Tuesday, November 12 will be the rubber match this season for these two teams. The Ravens shocked the Pirates with a five set victory in Breckon Sports Center during Park's midseason slump, but Park returned the favor in four sets against the Ravens in Atchison, Kansas more recently. Park still has a chance to host the conference championship match if a MidAmerica Nazarene upset occurs over Central Methodist, but must take care of business on Tuesday first. WATCH HERE

Box Score

#ParkUNation