Park University Women's Volleyball battled Central Methodist in three tight sets, but managed to win all three to move to 3-3 in conference play and 12-6 overall (25-20, 25-22, 25-23).
Indi Zetic led the way with 14 kills and three service aces, while
Visnja Canak reached double-digit kills with 10.
Silvia Albani recorded nearly every assist for Park, finishing the night with 33. The Pirates finished ahead 45-32 in kills and had an outstanding .283 hitting percentage.
The first set was even, with no team holding more than a two-point lead more than halfway through. Then, the Pirates and Eagles traded runs back and forth. The Pirates, down 11-9, went on a six-point streak that included two
Visnja Canak kills, an
Elisa Dalla Pozza ace, and two kills from
Indi Zetic to jump out to a 15-11 lead and force a Central Methodist timeout. A Juliana Amaral kill out of the timeout started a four-point run to tie the match back at 15-15. That's when strong serves from India's Zetic came into play. Zetic had back-to-back aces and, combined with two kills, extended the Park lead back out to four. The Pirates would keep the lead and close out the set with three straight kills (25-20).
Neither Park nor Central Methodist had any control in the second set, and they were even tied all the way at 21-21. However, back-to-back blocks from
Isadora Dias and India Zetic gave Park the momentum late, and eventually closed out the second set the same way they closed out the first: back-to-back kills. The Pirates totaled 16 kills in the set, and a limited number of errors gave the Pirates a commanding match lead.
Park started blistering hot in the third set, jumping out to a 7-3 lead off of three kills, Eagle's errors, and a block. CMU clawed its way back into the set after that, and even took the lead 21-11 after a pair of Park ball-handling errors. However, Park won six of the next eight points to build a lead, but again, the Eagles made it tough at the end, scoring four straight points when the Pirates were one point away from closing out the match. It was Isadora Dais who finally ended the match with a kill off a
Silvia Albani set.
Park will look to continue a winning streak vs. Missouri Valley University on Sept. 26.
