The No. 8 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program looked locked in for the start of the 2026 season in the Pirate Invitational, going 5-0 in their matches.
The Pirates had three sweeps, including against (RV) Reinhardt University, while also coming away with four set wins against (RV) Governors State University and No. 14 Westcliff University.
The Pirates had three matches of 40 plus kills, including 51 kills against Governors State to begin the year. Park for the tournament hit .345, while holding opponents to .127.
Defensively, the Pirates had three matches with double-digit blocks, which all came against the ranked or opponents receiving votes.
The Pirates defeated Governors State 25-20, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19. Governors State in only their second year as a program has already impressed. In these program's first meeting it would be all Park though with
Adrian Figueroa leading with 17 kills on a .344 hitting percentage.
A couple Pirates were close to double-doubles, as
Murillo Silva, the first year Pirate out of Sao Paulo, Brazil, went for 11 kills and nine digs.His teammate, a senior from Serbia,
Veljko Stojic was two kills and a dig shy of a double-double as well.
Jovan Nicolic was the leader in assists with 40 for the match and led Park with three service aces. Stojic was the only other Pirate with multiple service aces with two.
The Pirates had another match for the first time in program history with Avila. The Eagles were having their first match ever, as the first year program is new for 2026.
It was a tough start to the Eagles against the established No. 8 Park program, defeating the Eagles 25-10, 25-21, 25-6.
The Pirates had 16 service aces, which is the most since the 2024 Pirate Invitational where Park served 17 service aces against Central Christian.
Leonardo Maldonado, a 2025 2nd Team Heart All-Conference performer, led offensively in the match with 10 kills and was second in service aces with four.
Kaabeche Abdelmouaiz was playing lights out with a ..455 hitting percentage. The freshman from Algeria had seven kills and led the Pirates with six service aces in the match. He also led Park defensively with six digs.
The Pirates handled business against (RV) Reinhardt, defeating the Eagles 25-23, 25-17, 25-18. The Pirates were hitting over .300 in each set, including .500 in set one.
With 14 total blocks, that was the most from the Pirates in a match for the invitational. It wreaked havoc on the Eagles, as they only were at .122 for the match.
Park was led by Silva with 10 kills in the match and Figueroa was right there with eight kills as well.
Park's middle blockers,
Mihailo Ivanovic and
Moises Ortiz were playing extremely well with four solo blocks each to go along with their six and five kills, respectively.
Park made it through their match with Goshen unscathed 25-20, 25-22, and 25-17. This is the second win in a row for Park over Goshen, as the Maple Leafs are a return team from the 2025 Pirate Invitational.
Alessandro Tolin left his mark on the match with 16 kills for a .536 hitting percentage and earning five digs.
Abdelmouaiz and Maldonado also found themselves in double-digit kills with 11 and 10 kill performances.
Rodrigo Macedo was leading the way at libero with eight digs for the match.
The last five years, the Pirates have played the Warriors and Park improves to 5-0 against the Irvine, California team.
The Pirates had a strong match 25-16, 25-22, 25-27, 25-13 and this came after Westcliff had lost their previous match that day against Morningside, who also represents in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.
Park hit .376 for the match and this time around,
Umberto Caleca got the start at setter, putting up 40 assists.
The tandem of Figueroa and Silva came up big again in this match with 16 kills for Figueroa and 13 kills for Silva. Impressively, Silva had five service winners in the match.
Despite Park having 15 service errors, the Warriors also were misfiring on serves with 16 service errors.
Stojic was the other Pirate with double-digit kills with 11, and defensively he was top three in digs with five. Macedo led Park with seven digs, while Silva played a balanced match with six digs.
Overall, Figueroa had 41 kills for the tournament and Silva was at 35.
Nikolic was reliable at setter with 9.67 assists per set.
Ortiz was like a wall at the net with 15 total blocks for the tournament and Silva's 20 digs was one better than Macedo at 19.
The Pirates will continue their season in Breckon Sports Center on Friday, January 30 at 7pm against Oakland City University.
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