The Pirates traveled to Baker University looking to bounce back after a tough home loss to Benedictine, but ultimately fell in straight sets to the Wildcats. No one reached double-digit kills for the Pirates, as Elisa Dall Pozza led with nine kills. Silvia Albani recorded 22 assists, and Trinity Iverson had five blocks. Seven aces and a .242 hitting percentage from the Wildcats were crucial in the win.
How it happened
Park led the first set for nearly all of the first 17 points, but the Wildcats rallied behind the home crowd for seven straight points, including back-to-back blocks by Brie Weiler-Reedy. Park did its best to try and fight back, but the lead was just too big to overcome. Baker took set one 25-19.
Park led early again in set two, jumping out to a 5-3 lead after a kill from Trinity Iverson. However, the match just seemed to have a big Baker run in each set. Baker won four straight points to turn a two-point deficit into a two-point lead. After that, no team had a bigger run than two points, and Park eventually tied the second set at 16-16 before a second four-point run of the set by Baker, highlighted by back-to-back kills by Abby Elffner, gave the Wildcats another late lead at 20-16. However, the Pirates didn't back down, and behind two kills from Elisa Dalla Pozza and another kill from Isadora Dias, the Pirates tied the set again, this time at 23-23. After a Baker kill had the set one point away from a win, a kill from Indi Zetic tied it again at 24-24, but Baker would close it out on back-to-back kills for a commanding two-set lead (24-26).
Park held onto Baker in the third set, trailing just 11-8, 19 points in. But as said before, Baker just seemed to have a great run of points in each set, and the 10-point run in set three was better than any other. Four kills, two blocks, and two service aces went along with two attack errors by Park to give the Wildcats a lead that was just too big to overcome. Baker would close out the match a few points later and send Park back to Parkville with a second straight loss.
