The No. 5 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program was in Salina, Kan. on Tuesday to take on the Coyotes of Kansas Wesleyan University.
Park is now 9-1 on the season with a 5-1 Heart of America Athletic Conference record. The newly added associate member to the Heart in men's volleyball, Kansas Wesleyan, moves to 4-6 and 1-3 in conference play.
These two teams have only played twice, as the Coyotes are a young program within five seasons. Park moves to 2-0 in the series, but will expect to see this new associate member more often in conference play.
The big headline for the match is that Head Coach
Michael Talamantes now has his 300
th career win with the Park men's volleyball team under his belt. Managing both women's and men's indoor squads over 14 seasons, he has now amassed 724 career Park wins between those two programs.
Talamantes had to like what he saw from his team on Tuesday, as Park hit over .300 the entire match, with a crescendo in the third set at .407, giving the Pirates a .360 hitting percentage for the match. The match was close in set one as back-and-forth play had the set tied at 17 apiece, but a 3-0 run by the Pirates starting with a block by
Haris Delic rallied Park for a 20-17 lead. The Coyotes were hungry at home and took a 22-21 lead, but
Ignacio Pedemonte had three kills in the Pirates' last four points for the 25-22 win.
The Pirates had to come from behind a bit in set two, but after tying things at 16-16, Park stayed ahead following a kill by
Moises Ortiz. Some errors by the Coyotes and a double-block by Ortiz and
Leonardo Maldonado were big to get Park a four-point lead, 21-17. There would be no comeback in set two, as Ortiz and
Nicolas Tenius finished the last two points off with Pirate kills.
The first five-of-seven points from Park in set three were off kills from
Leonardo Maldonado and the Pirates were out to a 7-4 lead. A 7-0 run as the set went on dashed all hope of a fourth set, as
Veljko Stojic laced two aces in the run, 19-7. Without any trouble, the Pirates won by 11, 25-14.
The Pirates were a little amped up with 14 service errors in the match, but also came in with five service aces. The Coyotes had 11 service errors of their own and only managed to hit .173.
It was practically automatic for
Moises Ortiz on the night with 13 kills and three blocks.
Three other Pirates contributed steady offense, including a pair of eight kill performances by Pedemonte and Tenius, while Maldonado had seven kills.
Alessandro Gozzi led Park with nine digs, while
Jovan Nikolic and
Umberto Caleca split time with 21 assists for Nikolic and 12 for Caleca.
Park will host University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy on Friday, February 28 at 7pm in Breckon Sports Center.
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