The No. 8 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program had a road contest with University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis, Mo. on Tuesday evening, defeating the Eutectics in straight sets, 25-23, 25-19, 25-21.

Park has won their last two games to get back to No. 3 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference standings, with a tight race going to the finish of the 2024 regular season. Park is now 17-5 on the year with a 9-4 Heart record, while UHSP is 17-9 and 5-7 of the same.

Both teams were tough defensively against the other and did not allow high attack percentages, Park finished with a .192 and USHP had a .118. By the third set both sides had their highest attack percentage of the evening, .259 for the Pirates and .182 for the Eutectics.

The Eutectics at home took to a 7-2 lead in set one off of a 5-0 run. The Pirates got four of the next five points to get back in it 8-6. A couple kills by Carston Wellong kept the Pirates close with UHSP, but after a service error and attack error by UHSP, Leonardo Maldonado gave Park the lead 13-12 on the kill. It wasn't easy on Park the rest of the way, as the game was tied seven times before ending in Park's favor 25-23. Nicolas Tenius had 14 kills for the match and after his kill, Maldonado ended the set on a service ace.

The Pirates were down three in the early going, before a 5-1 run allowed them to tie the set at 8-8. After a 2-0 run by USHP, the Pirates got in their groove with seven unanswered points for the 15-10 lead. In this stretch two blocks were registered on a double block by Wellong and Tenius and then a solo block by Joao Friedrich. The Eutectics got back in the game and trailed only by a point at 17-16, but kills by Mihailo Ivanovic and Maldonado with a Tenius service ace thrown in got Park back to a four-point lead, 20-16. The Pirates used the momentum to capture the last five points of the set for the win, 25-18.

A 7-1 run helped the Pirates to a 8-5 lead in set three, which showcased three consecutive kills by Gabriel Soares. Once again, the Eutectics were not willing to roll over in the match and overtook Park for the 16-15 lead. Park tied the set four more times before securing a 4-0 run for the lead, 22-19. Maldonado took things into his own hands in the last two points with a kill and service ace for the 25-21 win.

Maldonado had four of the six service aces for the Pirates and added seven kills to Park's cause.

Tenius led with 14 kills and Soares backed him up with eight kills of his own.

Veljko Stojic was the leader defensively with 11 digs.

It was a balanced match for Eduardo Sabi with 30 assists, five digs, and three block assists. Ivanovic and Wellong joined Sabi with three block assists as well.

The Pirates return to Breckon Sports Center for a match with Graceland University on Saturday, March 30 at 2pm. WATCH
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