The No. 3 seeded Park University women's volleyball program arrived in Atchison, Kan. on Tuesday for a Heart of America Athletic Conference Semifinal match, but it would be the No. 2 Ravens of Benedictine College that advance to Saturday's championship, as Benedictine won in five sets 17-25, 28-26, 26-24, 24-26, 11-15.

The Pirates and Ravens both had 23 wins on the year coming into the match and split on the season against one another. The Ravens beat Park in Breckon Sports Center in five sets and then Park got pay back on the road in a four set victory in October.

The Pirates are now 23-10, while the Ravens will go into the conference finale with a 24-7 record.

Benedictine got off to a 6-1 lead to start set one. A 3-0 run later in the set gave the Ravens a six-point lead at 12-6, while the Pirates quickly responded with a run of three with two kills coming from Izabella Ceratti. The Pirates got it within two points at 15-13, but the Ravens caught fire with a 5-0 run to gain a 19-14 advantage. A 22-17 lead for Benedictine proved to be the separation they needed, as the last three points went to the home team for a 25-17 opening set win.

Park reversed things in set two with a 6-1 lead of their own in set two. The Pirates continued to have the match in their hands with a six-point lead at 18-12 and then again at 22-16. At this point though, things got interesting as a 5-2 run for Benedictine got it to set point, 24-21. The Ravens then went on a 3-0 run to tie it at 24-all. Kills by Trinity Iverson, Avery Caskey, and Ceratti all came in at the right time though for Park to win set two 28-26. Both Park and the Ravens earned 16 kills in the second set.
In set three, there were five ties that emerged just as Iverson tied it 7-7 for Park. A 4-1 run for Park gave the Pirates a 11-8 lead and then a larger 5-0 run put them over the top at 17-9. Amra Kovac had three blocks in that stretch with block assists coming from Grecia Ung and Ceratti as well. The Ravens were not counted out yet though, as they put together a 5-1 counter to bring it to 18-14. Before long another 4-1 run brought the score within two points, 20-18. The Ravens extended the set for the second time in a row with a 2-0 run to make it 24-24. There would be less back-and-forth this time though as Ung got a kill and a double block from Ceratti and Iverson put Park up 2-1 in the match with a 26-24 win in set three.

Benedictine responded well though winning the last two sets for the 3-2 win. They had more kills than the Pirate by four in each of the final sets. Another 10 ties emerged in set four and both sides' largest lead was only three points. This time Park had to do the coming back down 23-21 and Ceratti first got a kill and then another double-block came in from Iverson and Caskey to tie it at 23-all. Each team traded a point to make it 24-24, but a kill and service ace for Benedictine ended set four 26-24.
It all came down to a fifth set, as did the other Heart semifinal between No. 1 Central Methodist University and No. 5 MidAmerica Nazarene University, and the Pirates got two quick kills from Ung to begin set five. Each team exchanged 2-0 runs to tie things at 4-4. The score got tied another time at 5-5, when the Pirates took a 7-5 lead on another block from Iverson and Caskey, the 15^th total block of the evening which was the new season-high for Park. Things shifted Benedictine's way with a 4-0 run to make it 9-7. Park answered with a kill from Caskey, but the Ravens kept gaining ground and secured the last four-of-five points for the 15-11 win to advance to the conference championship.

Park was led by the senior from Senora, Mexico with a double-double performance on 19 kills and 12 digs, while Caskey and Ceratti were also in double-digit kills at 14 and 11.

Both Park setters earned double-doubles, as Jullia Alvarez earned 26 assists and 17 digs and Angelina Rodriguez had a solid match on 23 assists and 12 digs.
The two seniors, Aly Anderson and Irene Verdino, contributed a team-leading 18 and 17 digs, respectively.

Iverson put up six kills and eight blocks, while Kovac had an excellent defensive match as well with seven total blocks.

Park had four more service errors and one less service ace than the Ravens. Both teams had to work for everything they got as well with a .144 hitting percentage for Benedictine and a .102 attack percentage for the Pirates.

The Pirates will await the outcome of the 2024 NAIA Women's Volleyball Selection Show on Monday, November 18 at 12pm (CT) for a possible Opening Round matchup. WATCH HERE

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