The No. 1 nationally ranked Park University men's volleyball program hosted the Heart of America Athletic Championships on Saturday, defeating No. 3 Missouri Valley College 3-2 in Breckon Sports Center. Missouri Valley got the 2-1 match lead, but Park rallied late to take the last two sets, 25-19, 19-25, 22-25, 28-26, 17-15.

Missouri Valley and Park had met two previous times this season, both were decided in 3-1 matches favoring the Pirates. Park moves on to a 31-0 record as the Heart of America Athletic Conference Regular Season and Tournament Champion. Missouri Valley goes to 23-5 on the year ahead of the NAIA National Championship Tournament. This is the 4th time that Park has won the conference regular season championship and tournament championship in the same year (2013, 2014, 2023).

These teams were close the whole match with Park hitting .310 and Missouri Valley at .254. Impressively, both squads hit over .500 in the final set.

Park had the upper hand with seven service aces to four for the Vikings, while also delivering 13 more kills in the match. Park's blocking also was an advantage with 16 total blocks to the 12 by the Vikings.

While the Vikings garnered momentum though the middle of the match with a 2-1 lead, the Pirates dug deep in set four in a highly contested sequence of play that included 9 lead changes. A 7-2 run for the Vikings in set four looked ot be a devastating blow to the Pirates, 19-16. The Pirates came up big with a 3-0 run on the kill and block from Moises Ortiz and a service acr from Adrian Figueroa, 21-21. Missouri Valley still pushed onward to force a match point, 24-22. Park won the next point on an attack error from the Vikings and Leonardo Maldonado kept the Pirates alive with a kill to tie at 24-all. In the closing moments, the Pirates battled back for the win off of two kills from Adrian Figueroa, one from Maldonado, and a timely double-block from Murillo Silva and Mihailo Ivanovic to end the set, 28-26.

The momentum seemed to swing Park's way for the fifth set, but the Heart title did not come easy. Park had an essential 3-0 run to go up 9-5 on the Vikings in the fifth set, which involved two Silva kills and a service winner from Maldonado. The Pirates beat the Vikings to match point with a 14-10 advantage. To make the match even more electric, Missouri Valley went on a 4-0 run to force the second set in a row to go long. After both teams trading a point, Figueroa tacked on his 33rd kill of the match with a .377 hitting percentage. The winning point came from the second service ace from Maldonado as he split the back row of the Vikings to send the Pirate faithful into pandemonium in Breckon Sports Center with the program's 4th conference tournament championship.

Figueroa had a double-double with 33 kills and 14 digs. Silva was the only other Pirate in double-figures with 14 kills, but he also led the team with three service aces.

Moises Ortiz and Mihailo Ivanovic were both paving the way in blocks, as Ivanovic had six block assists and Ortiz earned eight blocks with four being solo blocks.

Jovan Nikolic and Umberto Caleca were masterful with 42 assists for Nikolic and 21 for Caleca.

The Pirates will head to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the 2026 NAIA Men's Volleyball Championship from April 28-May 2. The No. 1 overall seeded Pirates are set to face No. 9 Westcliff at 7pm (CT) on April 28 and No. 8 OUAZ at 7pm on April 30. WATCH