The No. 1 overall seeded Park University men's volleyball program was in their first bout of action on Tuesday night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at Alliant Energy PowerHouse in NAIA National Championship Pool Play. The Pirates defeated No. 9 Westcliff University (Calif.) in straight sets, 25-21, 25-23, 25-18.
This is the second year that the NAIA National Championship site has been in Cedar Rapids, which Park has been both times. For the Pirates their program record breaking win-streak is still intact at 32-0, while the Warriors are 20-5. Now two of those Westcliff losses come at the hands of the Pirates. This was the first meeting in NAIA post-season between these teams, but Park owns the 6-0 series record. These teams have played each year since 2022 in the annual Pirate Invitational.
Park got the upper hand in set one, pulling away in the closing points for a 25-21 win. Park had to battle through adversity in set two, as the Warriors held control of the lead for the greater part of the set. Westcliff was looking to even the match at 1-1 with a 23-20 lead, but Park had other intentions with a 5-0 run to win the set 25-23. A Warrior service error cracked the door for Park and then a block by
Moises Ortiz and
Adrian Figueroa applied even more pressure. Three attack errors later by Westcliff decided the set. Park had 12 blocks to the Warriors' seven in the match, while Figueroa offensively had 12 kills through two sets.
The Pirates had their best hitting set of the night at .360, for a .189 for the match, and pushed forward in set three 25-18 over Westcliff. 16 kills were notched by Figueroa, the Heart Player of the Year, and
Murillo Silva was next in line with eight kills.
It was a strong defensive performance by the Heart Middle Blocker of the Year, Moises Oritz, and he had six blocks in the match. The senior
Mihailo Ivanovic has been part of all six matches against the Warriors in his career and he contributed five blocks.
Jovan Nikolic kept the offense flowing with 26 assists in he match.
Figueroa was just one dig away from a double-double and also managed to send back four blocks at the net.
The Pirates will go up against No. 8 seeded OUAZ on Thursday evening at 7pm. Park and OUAZ have played twice in pool play in recent years, the last meeting was in 2023 pool play in a 5 set win for the Pirates.
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