The No. 6 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program took on the Yellowjackets of Graceland University to begin Heart of America Athletic Conference play, sweeping Graceland in Breckon Sports Center 25-13, 25-13, 25-23.

Park goes to 5-1 on the season with their first conference win of the 2025 campaign, while Graceland falls to 2-6 on the season.

The Pirates started to gain some ground in the first set, starting with a kill from Alessandro Tolin. Tolin's kill spurred on a 4-0 run, including a service ace by Leonardo Maldonado and a pair of kills by Nicolas Tenius for a 5-2 lead. As the set went on a service error and a kill by Maldonado doubled Park's score compared to Graceland at 10-5. A pair of kills on a 3-0 run by Tolin set up a Graceland timeout with a 16-9 advantage for the Pirates. Park outscored the Yellowjackets 9-3 to close out set one, 25-13.

Graceland went out to a 7-5 lead after getting a pair of blocks, but Tenius and Tolin got Park back on track with kills for the tie. An attack error by Graceland and a service ace by Maldonado gave Park the lead at 9-7. The Park lead grew with a 4-0 run to 16-10 on account of two service aces by Umberto Caleca and a kill by Veljko Stojic. It was a consistent performance by Park with another 25-13 set two win. The senior, Tenius brought down five kills in the set to lead Park offensively in the set.

It was much closer in the third set with nine ties before Graceland called timeout with Park out front 13-12. Out of the timeout, Maldonado was all over a Pirate kill to go up 14-12. Maldonado continued to have his number called with another kill and service ace to make it 16-13. Graceland showed some life with a 3-0 run to tie the set at 18-18. A service ace by Graceland gave the Yellowjackets a lead 20-19. Maldonado led Park with eight kills in the third set and tied the set at 21-21. Graceland had the advantage going to 22-21 and 23-22, but a service error gave Park a break to tie it 23-23. Maldonado did the honors with a service ace and a kill to end the match with a sweep, 25-23.

Maldonado led Park with 16 kills with 10 of them coming in the third set. His four service aces led Park as well to help Park get to nine service aces for the match.

The Pirates hit an efficient .429, while the Yellowjackets were at .167 for the night.

It was an even distribution between Jovan Nikolic and Umberto Caleca, 21 assists for Nikolic and 19 for Caleca.

Alessandro Gozzi was the only Pirate close to double-digit digs with nine on the night.

Park is back in Breckon Sports Center tomorrow against Culver-Stockton College for a Valentine's Day matchup at 7pm. WATCH
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