The No. 9 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program hit the road to Ottawa, Kan. on Wednesday evening of spring break for the Pirates. The Pirates and Ottawa University were supposed to play on February 18, but due to snow this match was moved down the schedule. The Braves opened the set with a win, but Park captured the next three sets for the 3-1 win, 21-25, 25-16, 25-19, 27-25.

Ottawa, normally a member of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, is a new associate member to the Heart of America Athletic Conference for the 2025 season. The Pirates and Braves square up quite a bit being so close for non-conference games and the Pirates have won 9 of their last 10 meetings, including last night, with the Braves.

Park is now 13-3 on the season with a 9-2 Heart record, while Ottawa now stands at 10-8 and 5-6 in conference. Because of the schedule change, these teams will have a rematch within a week on Tuesday, March 18 in Breckon Sports Center.

The Braves out hit Park in the opening set with 12 kills on only three errors for a .290 percentage, while Park was at 13 kills but eight errors for a .139. A 7-1 start began the match for Ottawa and was a tough hill to climb for the Pirates the rest of the way. Park did manage to get within three points of the Braves with a 3-0 run on a block by Moises Ortiz and Adrian Figueroa, and kills by Mihailo Ivanovic and Figueroa, 21-18. Ottawa did not give up any more ground though and won 25-21 in the first set.

It was a complete turnaround in the second set with an 8-0 start for the Pirates. Another 7-1 run midway through the set was the dagger that did the Braves in for a 20-8 lead. The Pirates made the most of set two for the 25-16 victory.

The Pirates hit .429 in the second set and continued to outhit the Braves in set three, .276 to .000. A couple of 4-0 runs in the third set put Park up 14-8, including a double-block by Ortiz and Nicolas Tenius and a service ace by Veljko Stojic in that same span. No comeback would be had in this set as Ivanovic ended the set at 25-19.

Ottawa matched Park in kills with 15 in set four, but they also hit for a better percentage at .294 compared to Park's .195. Ottawa was not going down without a fight on their home court and took a 7-3 lead out of the gate. Down 15-10, the Pirates had three key blocks in a 5-1 scoring run to make it 16-15. A service ace by Figueroa and a kill by Tenius gave Park the lead 17-16. With seven kills in the fourth set, Figueroa was called upon as this set remained close, and had three consecutive kills to keep Park out front, 23-21. Ottawa got on the block train and reached a set point 24-23 with a 3-0 run. Tenius extended the set with a kill and then a 3-0 run by the Pirates decided the match with a set score of 27-25.

Figueroa's 17 kills led Park, but Tenius and Ivanovic were also in double-figure kills with 12 and 10, respectively.

Umberto Caleca picked up a double-double on 49 assists and 11 digs, and also had two blocks. Tenius was sound defensively as well with seven digs and four blocks.

Ivanovic and Ortiz matched that up the middle with four blocks as well. Ortiz and Stojic were just off double-figure kills with nine kills.

Alessandro Gozzi led Park with 12 digs in the match, while Carlos Ramos off the serve got three aces for the Pirates to lead his team.

Still, Park had 21 service errors in the match, nine more than their opponent.

The Pirates are on the road again on Friday, March 14 against Culver-Stockton College at 7pm in Canton, Mo. WATCH
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