The No. 12 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program hosted the No. 15 nationally ranked Mount Mercy Mustangs on Saturday for the 2024 Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals. The Pirates came out on top in a big way with a home sweep in Breckon Sports Center, 25-21, 25-18, 25-19.

The No. 3 seeded Pirates move to 22-6 on the season, while No. 6 Mount Mercy's conference tournament run ends at 24-8. It's important to note though that Mount Mercy will receive an automatic bid to the 2024 NAIA National Championship Tournament as the host of the national tournament. In order to earn a host berth, the Mustangs needed a .650 regular season win percentage, which they exceeded.

This is the third matchup this season between these two teams, all ended in sweeps and whoever was home won, as the Pirates went 2-1 against Mount Mercy this season.
Park's hitting percentage doubled the Mustangs at .408 compared to .200.

Both teams had their fair share of service errors in the match with 17 for Mount Mercy and 18 for the Pirates, but Park was able to put together six service aces to only two for the Mustangs.
With the exception of a 1-0 lead for Mount Mercy, Park always held the lead in the first set. An early 4-0 run for the Pirates, which included two blocks from Joao Friedrich and Eduardo Sabi. Mount Mercy got within one-point five separate times, but at 19-18, the Pirates put together a 3-0 run to force Mount Mercy timeout. Park added to the run out of the time out to make it four unanswered points for a 23-18 lead to finish the set at 25-21.

It was tied three times early in set two, but Park put distance between the Cedar Rapids challengers and scored five consecutive points off of two service aces from Nicolas Tenius to draw a Mustang timeout, 11-6. Park widened the gap again with three straight kills by Joao Friedrich and a follow up kill by Leonardo Maldonado for a 16-8 lead. Give the Mustangs some credit to come with two points at 16-14, but Park was able to swerve from trouble with another big 5-1 run to end the set, 25-18. Nine kills were unloaded by Friedrich to bolster Park's offensive attack.

Mount Mercy had their largest lead of two points in set three, but Park would also have their highest hitting percentage of the match at .545 in set three to immediately overtake the Mustangs. Mount Mercy had a 5-4 lead, but the Pirates rattled off a 5-0 run, underscored by two solo blocks from Mihailo Ivanovic for a 9-5 lead. The last set was like the previous two, as Park continued to pull away deep in sets. A 4-1 scoring run gave the Pirates a 21-16 lead to put the match out of reach for Mount Mercy and give Park the eventual sweep, 25-19.

Park's two 2024 Heart 1^st Team All-Conference members connected quite well, as Eduardo Sabi had 28 assists to pair with Friedrich's match-leading 16 kills. Sabi, the two-time Heart Setter of the Year, also earned six digs and three blocks on the day.

Three other Pirates had six kills apiece to round out Park's scoring leaders, Maldonado, Ivanovic, and Carston Wellong.

Nicolas Tenius and Veljko Stojic were good defensively with nine and five digs, respectively. Maldonado had a good afternoon in his own right with six digs.

All eyes will be on the Heart Semifinals on Wednesday, April 17 at 7pm in Oskaloosa, Iowa, as the No. 3 Pirates take on No. 2 William Penn University. WATCH
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