The Pirates lost a tough one to MidAmerica Nazarene in five sets, but battled all the way to the end. In what was a strange match all night long, Park dominated in set one, 25-11, but saw a rejuvenated Pioneers squad in set two, dropping the second set 25-13 before bouncing back in set three, but lost control of set four and fell in set five (25-11, 13-25, 25-17, 19-25, 15-11).
Isadora Dias was excellent, tallying 17 kills and a block in the loss. Sarah Fernandez Villaverde led the way with 25 assists, while Mia Olson led the win for the Pioneers with 13 kills, and Emily Mathis wouldn't let anything touch the ground for MNU with 21 digs.
How it happened
The Pirates came into the match dropping back-to-back matchups against Benedictine and Baker, and looked like a team who wanted nothing more than to end the losing streak at two. The Pirates turned an early 7-6 lead into a blowout after going on a 12-point streak behind strong serves from
Claire Bingham. The Pirates totaled five straight kills, and seven in eight points, including three from
Isadora Dias and two from
Kennedy Altic. After a couple of attack errors, Altic and Dias each recorded another kill before the Pioneers finally sided out. The Pirates racked up 15 kills in 36 points, including seven from
Isadora Dias, to easily take set one 25-11.
After smashing the Pioneers in set one, MidAmerica Nazarene answered the call in set two, turning the tide against the Pirates early. Two service errors and three kills gave them an early 8-3 lead, which expanded into an eight-point deficit for the Pirates after a four-point Pioneers run turned the set from 14-9 to 18-9. By then, it was too late for a Pirates comeback, and two Pirate attack errors and a strong kill from Sophia Dial in the final three points wrapped up a 25-13 win for the Pioneers. After being on the wrong side of a 15 to 4 kill ratio in set one, the Pioneers were right back in it going into set three after racking up 11 kills in the set.
Set three looked a lot more like set one. After back-to-back
Indi Zetic kills, the Pirates were up 4-3 and expanded the run by four more points on a block, two Pioneer mistakes, and topped off with another kill from Zetic. The lead blossomed to nine after another four-point streak backed by two
Isadora Dias kills to 15-6. All Park did for the rest of the set was go point-for-point and to steal the set 25-17.
At 7-7 in the fourth set, it seemed like the set that would go back-and-forth for the first time in the match. That was true until the Pioneers answered the call again with a seven-point run that included four kills from four different players to take a 14-7 lead. Park reduced the lead to four on three different occasions, but couldn't pull it close enough to catch the Pioneers, and MidAmerica Nazarene forced the match to a fifth set (19-25).
Three of Park's previous five losses were by five sets, and another win was decided the same way. After four sets that seemed to be defined by monstrous runs from each side in different sets, the fifth set was truly a battle for every point. Neither team had a lead bigger than two until Misa Olson found the hardwood to take a 12-9 lead. Back-to-back Pirate points pushed the lead to one, before back-to-back kills and a Park error closed out the set, marking Park's fourth loss in five sets on the season.
The Pirates will host Graceland on Friday, Sept. 18, with hopes to end a three-match losing streak.
