The No. 5 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program had a road matchup with Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa on Saturday, defeating the Pride in straight sets, 28-26, 25-14, 25-14.

Park bumps up to 8-2 on the season with a 4-1 Heart of America Athletic Conference record, while the Pride are 1-10 and 1-4 of the same.

It was an evenly matched first set, as the Pride looked ready to go out of the gate. Both sides had 15 kills in the first set, which was the most of all the other sets by both teams. Park hit .231, while Clarke had their best hitting performance of the match at .211.

A 5-0 run helped Clarke gain some confidence in the first set and led 10-6. Clarke had a four-point lead at 12-8 until Park's 6-1 run flipped things at 16-14. A couple service errors opened the door for Clarke as they led 18-17, and then both teams were battling out the remainder of the set, but an attack error and service ace by Alessandro Tolin established Park at 27-26. A Clarke timeout tried to regather momentum, but a block by the Heart Defender of the Week, Moises Ortiz, and Umberto Caleca ended set one, 28-26.

Park turned the corner in set two with a big 4-0 run that put them out front by nine, 20-11. The Pirates went on to earn set two, 25-14. It was much of the same in the third set and a 5-0 run midway through to make it 16-7 steered Park on the path of another 25-14 set three win for the sweep.

Nicolas Tenius led the Pirates with 16 kills and hit .407, while Ortiz was next in line with his season-high of nine kills. Ortiz would add five blocks for the Pirate cause as well.
Caleca would lead Park at setter with 34 assists and six digs, while Alessandro Gozzi led Park with 11 digs and a pair of service aces to match Veljko Stojic. Stojic was good defensively as well with eight digs for the match.

Pedemonte was an asset to the Pirates with five service aces and five kills with the third most points for his squad.

Park is on the road in Salina, Kan. on Tuesday, February 25 at 7pm to face the newly added Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes to the Heart of America Athletic Conference as an associate men's volleyball member. WATCH
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