(San Marcos, CA) One down, two more to go. The Park University Gilbert women’s volleyball team exacted some revenge on in-state rival Embry Riddle, beating the Eagles 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 18-25, 25-18) in the first round of the California Pacific Conference Volleyball Championship in San Marcos, Calif, hosted by Saint Katherine.
The Buccaneers (22-10, 14-6) lost to the Eagles (16-13, 13-7) 3-1 just last week at home and played poorly in the effort. The Buccaneers struggled in serve receive in the match committing 16 receiving errors. They managed to cut that number in half tonight.
The Buccaneers led throughout the first set, maintain a three-to-four-point lead for most of the set. They did not necessarily play great in the frame, they had 11 attack errors, but off set it with 18 kills and four services aces. Amanda Jonovich posted five kills to lead the way in the set, but multiple players had at least three kills in a balanced attack.
Set number two was as clean a performance as you could have, with 16 Park kills and only one error as the Bucs hit .500 in the set. The set was tight early as ERAU held the lead for a short period of time, but at 10-10 Park Gilbert went on a 10-4 run which put the set away as they cruised home with a 25-17 second set victory.
So far this season in Cal Pac play, when the Bucs win the first two sets, it usually leads to a sweep. Tonight would be an exception to this rule as Embry Riddle played a solid third set with 13 kills and only three errors, while Park had 13 kills but added five hitting errors and three serve errors. The Bucs still managed to hit .308 despite losing the set which would prove to be a good omen heading in the fourth set.
Park Gilbert played a solid fourth set, but Embry Riddle fell apart with the season on the line. Nine attack errors in the frame doomed the team from Prescott, Ariz. as The Bucs posted 10 kills against only two errors. Again, Embry Riddle jumped out in front early taking a 10-6 lead, but a 5-0 Bucs run gave them lead. Both teams exchanged points to 13-all, then the Bucs took over. Back-to-back blocks by Miranda Bacon and Makenna Busse got things started followed by a Jonovich kill and another block by Bacon and Busse took the score to 17-14 and the Bucs never looked back. A 5-1 run at 20-17 closed things out and Park Gilbert is now on to the semifinals.
The Buccaneers dominated the stat sheet as they have all year, with 18 more kills and 14 more assists the Eagles, while outhitting them percentage wise .304-.172. The Buccaneers came into the contest fifth in the country with a .256 hitting percentage and that number will go up after tonight’s performance.
Jonovich, who was named the conference player of the year yesterday, showed why as she led all players with 19 kills and hitting .350. Freshman Railey Druxman added 11 kills and 12 digs as she posted her seventh double-double on the season. Second team all-conference member Busse pitched in with another near perfect performance as she had nine kills with no errors as she hit .500 and also had five blocks. Fellow middle blocker, freshman Mallory Turner, added another eight kills with only one error as she hit .467 with three blocks.
The setting duo of Annika Wallace and Jenifer Lauer each had 25 assists, an ace and three digs apiece. Hattie Patton led the group with 14 digs.
Up next for the Bucs are the regular season champions of the Cal Pac, Benedictine Mesa. Park lost to BENU twice this year. The series is tied at six wins apiece for both teams and the winner of tomorrow afternoon’s contest will take the series lead in wins and a trip to the championship game with them. This is the definition of a rivalry as the Arizona schools are 15 minutes from each other. Benedictine has already secured its spot in the NAIA national tournament as the Cal Pac regular season champions, so there is not as much on the line for them. But pride and the opportunity to knock their in-state rival out of the tournament should be enough to get them ready. The semifinal match will start at 1 p.m. Arizona time (12 p.m. in California).
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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