The Park University women's volleyball program was in a battle on Tuesday evening against (RV) MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kan. The Pirates got a win in the first set, but then after going down 2-1, climbed back into it for the 3-2 win, 25-22, 20-25, 19-25, 25-14, 18-16.

The Pirates climb to 16-7 on the year with a 12-4 Heart of America Athletic Conference record. Both teams will stay put in the Heart standings as the Pirates are No. 4 and MidAmerica Nazarene are No. 3 at 20-5 on the year with a 14-2 Heart record.

This is the 6th five set match for the Pirates and with the win they are 2-4 this year in five-setters. This is the first win in five sets on the road this year for Park.

The Pirates were looking the part with a .265 hitting percentage for the match, including a .457 percentage in set four. The Pioneers were right there with Park at .245 for the match.

Park began the match with a 3-0 run to get to the lead. Both teams would throw down some counters on the other, including a 3-0 run to tie the set at 12-12 MidAmerica Nazarene, but Park quickly responded with a 4-0 run, featuring kills from Daniela Gomez, Isadora Dias, and Indi Zetic, for the 16-13 lead. MidAmerica Nazarene rallied late and came within one point, but a 3-1 run at the end sealed the opening set win for Park, 25-22.

It was Park who was playing catch up in set two, as MidAmerica Nazarene set the tone with a 10-7 lead. The Pirates tied it twice before overtaking the Pioneers, 16-14, which included a double-block from Gomez and Dias. At that point in the match though, a 5-0 run for the Pioneers and no other significant scoring swing the rest of the way helped MidAmerica Nazarene to a 25-20 win.

It was a close start in set three, but an 8-1 run  changed Park's fortunes as the Pioneers hit their set-high of .333. Despite the strong showing by the Pioneers, the Pirates rallied in a big way, going on a 6-1 run themselves to cut the deficit to just two points, 18-16. Another 5-0 run at a tough time, like set two, gave MidAmerica Nazarene the upperhand in the set, 25-19.

It was Park's turn to have their best hitting set of the match, involving 16 kills and zero errors in 35 attempts. It seemed like for every point the Pioneers scored, the Pirates were able to up the ante, outscoring the Pioneers 10-4 to go up 16-9. MidAmerica Nazarene called timeout, but Elisa Dalla Pozza continued the scoring for Park with a kill and led to another 3-0 run, 19-9. Needless to say, there would be bouncing back for the Pioneers, 25-14. 

It all came down to the final set, Park's second five set match in a row. The Pirates secured the first two points of the set, including a kill by Gomez. Park would maintain a one to two point lead all the way up to 8-6. At this point an attack error by the Pioneers forced a MidAmerica Nazarene timeout. Zetic was delivering a truly special match with 28 kills and had another big one to put Park up 10-6. Credit MidAmerica Nazarene for fighting back into the match as they went on a 4-0 run moments later for a 13-12 lead. Park faced three set points, but each time Zetic was called upon for a kill. Back to back Zetic kills helped Park put the Pioneers in a match point situation, 17-16. A timeout in this situation usually would lend a hand to the receiving team, but the veteran Alvarez could not be iced for the game-winning service ace, 18-16.

28 kills for Zetic is a match high for the freshman, already with 254 kills on the season, and the last time a Pirate had 28 or more kills was last season by Park's current assistant coach Grecia Ung who had 29 kills against Cornerstone. Tack on a double-double for Zetic with 13 digs.

Silvia Albani also had a double-double in the match with 53 assists and 12 digs, and her teammate Angelina Rodriguez joioned the double-double train with 10 kills and 16 digs.

A lot of respect to Park's libero, Alvarez, with 29 digs in the match with six assists and two service aces. Luna Martins, another senior gave the Pirates good contributions with two service aces as well.

Neither side blocked at a high rate, only 10 block assists for the Pioneers and six for the Pirates.

The Pirates will be on the road again for the weekend. On Friday, October 31 against William Woods University in Fulton,. Mo. at 6pm and then on Saturday against No. 17 Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis, Mo. at 7pm. WATCH
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