The No. 5 seeded Park University women's volleyball program was in St. Louis, Mo. on Saturday for the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Championshp against the host, No. 2 Missouri Baptist University. The Pirates got the win in set one, but Missouri Baptist outlasted Park in a four set climb to the conference crown, 25-22, 18-25, 18-25, 22-25.

Park previously played the Spartans in St. Louis just two weeks prior to close out the regular season with a five set thriller siding with Missouri Baptist. Park is now 19-9 on the year after a runner-up finish in the Heart Tournament, while Missouri Baptist, already with a Co-Heart Regular Season Championship, also received an automatic bid to the 2025 NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship Opening Round with the Heart Tournament Championship. The Spartans are 29-5 on the year and only lost one Heart match in 2025. 

Park came all the way back from a five-point deficit in set one at 14-9 and Isadora Dias' kill and Ella Schwalm's service ace got Park moving in the right direction. It would be a 6-2 run moments later that would flip the set on its head with Park tying at 17-all. After a Spartan timeout, Park picked up a double-block by Indi Zetic and Elisa Dalla Pozza and a kill by Daniela Gomez for a 19-17 lead. Gomez had three more kills in route to Park's 25-22 set victory, despite a 4-0 run by Missouri Baptist in the closing points.

The score was tied five separate times in the opening moments of set two, but Missouri Baptist worked their way into a 12-9 lead. Another 3-0 pushed the lead to five points, 15-10. Park showed great resilience in these kinds of moments and a 5-1 run got the Pirates within a point at 17-16, which included back-to-back service winners by Silvia Albani. A 6-1 scoring spree late in the set was too much to overcome though, as the Spartans won set two, 25-18. 

Similarly in set three, the difference for Missouri Baptist was another 6-1 run to secure a 25-18 set three victory. Park facing a 2-1 match score against the Spartans mustered an impressive 7-0 run to gain a 13-11 lead in set four. Following a Missouri Baptist timeout, they nearly got it all back with six unanswered points for a 18-13 lead. Kills by Zetic and Teodora Tasic, and a service ace by Luna Martins put Park in a commendable position at 24-22, after facing four striaght match points. A final kill by the Spartans closed out the championship 25-22 for Missouri Baptist though. 

Missouri Baptist had the advantage in hitting percentage the final three sets at .292 overall for the match compared to Park's .158. Both teams were serving at their finest with 11 service aces for Park on six errors compared to 10 service aces for the home team with 12 errors. 

14 kills by Zetic led Park and she had a double-double as well with 10 digs. Albani matched her outside hitter with 10 digs and also reached a double-double with 32 assists. Albani was electric at with her serves with five service aces and no errors.

Jullia Alvarez and Luna Martins have been through three Heart Tournament Championship matches with the Pirates over their four years. Alvarez led Park with 17 digs, while Martins had a service ace on zero errors.

Another senior, Daniela Gomez helped Park with 11 kills in the match and Angelina Rodriguez was another offensive contributor with six kills. 

Baily Turner put in work defensively with 10 digs. 

The Pirates await the results of the 2025 NAIA Women's Volleyball Selection show on Monday, November 17 at 4pm (CT). SELECTION SHOW
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