The No. 5 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program hosted University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy – St. Louis on Friday, February 28 in Breckon Sports Center, capturing the sweep over UHSP, 29-27, 25-19, 25-18.
The Pirates jump to 10-2 and 6-1 in the Heart after the win, while UHSP moves down to 3-8 on the season and 1-6 in conference play.
This very well could have been a different kind of match if the first set went a different direction. Both sides went to the wire with 15 kills in the first set for UHSP and 19 kills in the first set by the Pirates, and both teams hit over .300 in the set. The largest lead of three points actually was controlled by UHSP at 8-5 early in set one. It felt like an eternity later
Veljko Stojic got the key kill to tie the set at 25-25. Not a lot of separation was between these two squads at all in the first set, but after facing another set point, the Pirates'
Moises Ortiz came through with a kill to extend the set, 27-27. Two attack errors by the Eutectics ended the set in favor of Park 29-27.
Park got back in their comfort zone with a 7-2 start to begin the match. Still UHSP went on a little run to make it a 12-9 deficit and pretty soon they worked it with two points, 14-12. Throughout the adversity, the Pirates held onto the lead found
Leonardo Maldonado, Stojic, and Ortiz for three consecutive kills. A service ace by Stojic and a block by Ortiz and Maldonado tacked on two more points to give Park a 5-0 run late, which helped to secure a 25-19 set two win.
Again, Park picked up steam as the third set went along. A kill by Maldonado and then a attack error by UHSP forced a timeout by the Eutectics. Out of the timeout
Alessandro Tolin and
Avram Bozovic combined for a block to increase the lead to 5, 20-15. The last three points of the match belonged to Park, including a service error by UHSP, a service ace by Tolin and then a kill by Stojic on his birthday to finish the match, 25-18.
Stojic had 13 kills, three digs, two service aces, and two total blocks in the match. Maldonado was also at 13 kills and matched Stojic with three digs and two total blocks as well.
Nicolas Tenius and Ortiz were close behind in kills with nine and eight, respectively. Defensively, Ortiz, a two-time Heart Defender of the Week, had four total blocks, while
Rodrigo Macedo and Tenius led the team in digs with 10 and seven.
Park hit .370 for the match, while UHSP was at .171, but 19 service errors by the Pirates was a major eye opener.
BOX SCORE
#ParkUNation