The No. 6 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program traveled to Rolla, Mo. on Thursday to take on NCAA Division II opponent, Missouri S&T University, coming away victorious in their final non-conference matchup before Heart of America Athletic Conference play.  

The Pirates are 4-1 through the non-conference portion of their schedule with an NAIA Top 10 win against No. 8 Westcliff. This is the second straight year Park has defeated Missouri S&T, both on the road and at home a year ago. The Miners were 4-5 entering the contest and drop to 4-6.

This match was close despite it being a sweep, as none of the sets were above the minimum lead of two points when it was all said and done. In the first set, the Pirates and Miners never had four points of separation, but a key 3-0 run helped give a 2-point advantage for the Pirates as the set wrapped up 25-23. Veljko Stojic had the kill to take us to set two.

Missouri S&T got out to a 6-3 start in the second set and after another round of back and forth volleyball, the Pirates finally broke through for a 16-14 lead on a 3-0 run. Park looked to have some control at 21-16, but the Miners found their way back in it at 21-20. With the score tied at 22-22, the Pirates had a big kill from Leonardo Maldonado, who led both teams with 21 kills. After a service error by Park and a block by Missouri S&T the Pirates faced a set point, but a kill by Nicolas Tenius and two straight attack errors by the Miners closed out the set 26-24.

A 8-1 run in set three, lifted Park to a 14-6 lead. Park continued to build the lead and the score was at 20-11, but the Miners playing down for most the night had a huge comeback to force a 24-24 tie. The Pirates went to Umberto Caleca to deliver the game's final two assists to Maldonado and Stojic for the Pirate sweep, 26-24.

Aside from Maldonado's career-high 21 kills, Park was bolstered by eight kills by Tenius and seven kills by Stojic. Both Tenius and Stojic were having great defensive games with 13 and 11 digs as well.

Tenius along with Moises Ortiz led Park with four blocks.

Caleca and Jovan Nikolic split time setting with 15 assists for Caleca and 27 for Nikolic.

Both teams were about even on service errors 12 for Park and 13 for Missouri S&T, butt the Miners had four service aces compared to only one for the Pirates.

The Pirates hit .269 to only .204 for the Miners.

Park rests up for NCAA Division II matchup with Missouri S&T in Rolla, Mo. at 6pm Thursday, February 6. WATCH
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