Box Score The No. 3 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program swept No. 2 Benedictine University Mesa on Thursday evening, 31-29, 25-17, 25-10.

This match is a familiar pairing between top teams of the NAIA that have faced off in the national semifinals the last two seasons, Benedictine Mesa advancing past the Pirates on both occasions.

This year the Pirates triumph in an early non-conference battle and move to 5-0 on the season, while the Redhawks fall in their season opener.

The Pirates had to overcome a 6-1 deficit to begin the match to which Head Coach Michael Talamantes quickly burned his first timeout for Park. The Pirates immediately rallied with a 4-0 run to come within a point. Benedictine Mesa was able to control the lead in the first set and even were up 24-20. New to Park this year is Leonardo Maldonado from Guadalajara, Mexico and he came up big with a kill and a block to make it 24-23 and forced a Redhawk timeout. Two consecutive attack errors by the Redhawks gave the Pirates their first lead of the set. From there these experienced national contenders matched one another point for point, until a bad set by Benedictine Mesa and a service ace by Joao Friedrich secured the win for Park, 31-29.

The second set was tied 5-5 and from there the Pirates benefitted from a Redhawks' attack error followed by kills by the tandem of Friedrich and Maldonado. Gabriel Soares threw his name in the hat and his service ace capped off a 5-0 run for a 10-5 lead. Three more service aces would rain down by Maldonado as the Pirates took the helm of set two with a 6-0 run and eventually ed by 10 at 18-8. Needless to say, the Pirates did not let it slip away with a 25-17 win. Things started to turn the Pirates way from the second set on as the Redhawks hitting percentage plummeted to .050 and -.125 in the remaining sets, while the Pirates climbed to .308 and .714 of the same.

Park kept their rhythm going in set three with an 8-3 lead to force a Benedictine Mesa timeout. It was clear the Pirates were looking comfortable with two massive runs of 6-0 and a fatal seven unanswered points to end the match, 25-10. The Pirates were errorless with 10 kills in the last frame, while the Redhawks struggled at seven kills and 10 errors on 24 attempts.

Maldonado and Friedrich matched one another with 10 kills. There were no answers for the attacks of Maldonado as he hit for an outrageous .529 and scooped six digs.

Contributing offensively were Joao Infante and Mihailo Ivanovic with seven and five kills, respectively.

Park had six service aces for the game, which doubled the three from the Redhawks.

Ivanovic led the way with two block assists and one solo block, while Joao Bonanoni was right with Maldonado with six digs.

Park will continue with another NAIA Top 5 matchup tomorrow, February 2 at 8pm (CT) in Chandler, Ariz. against No. 5 The Master's University. WATCH
Box Score