The brooms were out on Tuesday evening in Breckon Sports Center, as the No. 14 nationally ranked Park University women's volleyball team swept the Baker University Wildcats 25-17, 25-13, 25-11 in the opening game of Heart of America Athletic Conference play.

This win moved Park to 11-3 on the season and 1-0 in Heart action. On the flipside, Baker dropped just their second game of the season. They now sit at 7-2 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

In the opening set, Park raced out to an early 8-3 lead behind two kills and back to back service aces by senior Grecia Ung. Baker would battle back to close the gap to 14-12 later on in the first set, but a four point Pirate run that included two kills by Mafalda Bras would open the lead to 18-12. That distance would essentially remain the same, and Izabella Ceratti finished off the first set with an absolute missile that deflected off the Wildcats' block attempt. 

The second set was much of the same for the Pirates. They got off to a 9-2 lead that saw Irene Verdino become the second Pirate player in the match to record two straight service aces. This prompted a Baker timeout that did little to stem the momentum. Avery Caskey would pick up a couple late set kills, and Park had already pushed Baker to the brink by capturing the first two sets fairly easily.

The third and ultimately final set would turn out to be more tightly contested early. Baker tied the set at 5-5 and kept it within two points at 9-7, but the Pirates would utilize their second unit to give themselves some breathing room. Amra Kovac, Trinity Iverson, and Daniela Gomez would get in on the action with some well timed kills, including an Iverson attack that was initially ruled out of bounds, but got changed to a tipped ball call after further discussion. All this was part of a 16-4 run that saw Park collect their sweep in a match that finished in around eighty minutes. 

Grecia Ung led the Pirates in kills with twelve, while Mafalda Bras finished second with nine in a match that saw her double digit kill streak snapped by the smallest of margins. 

The Pirates put in work on the defensive side of things as well. Nine total blocks were picked up throughout the match with Ceratti leading Park with 2.5 rejections. Verdino handled the floor well for the Pirates, and she was the leading dig getter in the match with thirteen in total.

Jullia Alvarez played her role at a high level as usual, picking up 22 assists throughout the quick three set match, along with a sweet no-look kill on a second touch dump. 

Park continues a busy week at home to begin conference play with weekend matches against William Penn and Grand View. Their next match will be on Friday, September 20 at 7pm in Breckon Sports Center. WATCH HERE

Box Score

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