The No. 2 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program soundly defeated the Tigers of Central Christian College on Friday evening in Breckon Sports Center for a sweep, 25-9, 25-8, 25-5.
Park bumps up to 8-1 on the season and has completed its non-conference portion of the 2024 schedule. Central Christian is still looking for their first win of the year and are now 0-5.
It was apparent that the Pirates would have an upper hand in the match as seen in the serve and receive. The Pirates had an impeccable start with eight service aces in the first set alone and finished the match with 17 service aces. This is the most in recent memory, as the Pirates had 14 against Graceland last season and 15 against University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in 2022, but tonight's performance marks the largest number of service aces in match since at least 2016.
The Pirates had at least 10 kills in each set and had their game-high in the third set with 14, all while hitting .492 on the match.
Mihailo Ivanovic and
Nicolas Tenius led the way in set one with three kills apiece. Park had a 4-0 lead to begin the match and showed no signs of slowing with a 9-1 lead. The Pirates could seemingly do no wrong as they won the opening set 25-9.
In set two, the Tigers came out to challenge Park and tied it 6-6. An 8-1 run would flip the fortunes though for the Pirates, 14-7. After this point, it would only take one more server to carry Park the rest of the way in the senior
Gabriel Soares. Within the last 11 points for the Pirates, there were three combined blocks by
Haris Delic and
Ignacio Pedemonte, two service aces from Soares, and four attack errors by the Tigers. Park would win set two in greater fashion than the first set, 25-8.
The third set was even better for Park with a 25-5 win. Some of Park's freshman shined, including
Carlos Ramos with three kills,
Nils Cobet with two kills, and Delic left quite the impression with four kills in the set. Delic, a native of Novi Pazar, Serbia, had five kills and three block assists and was tonight's Pirate Post-Game.
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Pedemonte led the entire field with seven kills and a hitting percentage of .700, while Soares was close behind with six kills.
Eight Pirates had service aces with
Veljko Stojic leading the charge with four service aces.
Cobet had the most digs with five, while Stojic and Ramos each had four digs in the match.
The Heart of America Athletic Conference schedule against No. 12 Missouri Baptist University will pick up on Tuesday, April 20 in St. Louis, Mo. at 6pm.
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