The No. 9 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program was on Claude English Court last Tuesday, March 18 against Ottawa University, a match that Park won in straight sets, 25-14, 25-16, 25-20.

Park moves to 15-4 and 11-3 on the year, while the Braves fall to 10-10 and 6-8 in conference play.

The Pirates started off on a good note with 12 kills in the opening set with a .391 hitting percentage. Park continued to improve their number of kills as the match went on with 14 and 15 in the next two sets with a .500 hitting percentage in the second set. The Braves had a harder time with less than a .100 hitting percentage for the match.

Ottawa began the set as good as you can with a 4-0 lead, but as the match went along, a 3-0 run tied it at 5-5. Another 3-0 run midway through gave the Pirates their first lead over the Braves off of the kill by Leonardo Maldonado, 11-10. Park settled in more and led 17-14 out of a timeout and then an 8-0 tear changed the whole outlook on the set, as Park won it 25-14.

A reverse of fortunes at the start of set two, set up Park with a 5-1 lead. A 5-0 run not long after put Park up 12-5 with two blocks from Moises Ortiz, Leonardo Maldonado, and Umbero Caleca in that stretch. Ottawa would only bring it within five points at 15-10 before Park zoomed ahead again with a 4-0 run that led into a 25-15 set two victory.

Despite being down 2-0, the Braves fought back in set three, starting with an 8-3 lead. Nicolas Tenius rallied the Pirates with a kill and service ace to help bring on a 3-0 run to make it 10-7. Not too long after that, the Pirates broke through with a 5-0 run to change hands with the lead, 16-13. Two kills came from Adrian Figueroa in that span, who led Park with 14 kills for the match. The Pirates held their ground and moved on to a 25-20 set three win for the sweep.

Figueroa led the Pirates with 14 kills and hit .423, while Tenius hit at a nice clip of .667 with 11 kills. Four service aces by Tenius led the team as well.

Maldonado had a balanced night with seven kills and six digs, while Alessandro Gozzi and Tenius were up there in digs as well with eight and five, respectively.

Ortiz led Park with four blocks, while Figueroa showed his defense with three total blocks.

Caleca impressed with 13 assists per set for 39 total in the match.

Park will face University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis, Mo. on Friday, March 28 at 7pm. WATCH
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