(Surprise, AZ) The Park University Gilbert men’s volleyball team completed its early non-conference schedule with a 3-0 loss (25-16, 25-11, 25-?? to No. 2 Ottawa (Ariz.) at the Spirit Center tonight. The Bucs drop to 0-3 on the season, but in those three contests have faced two ranked opponents and a NCAA Division II team.
The first set saw OUAZ show why it is so highly ranked as they had 17 kills with no errors on 21 attacks to hit .810 for the set. The Bucs had five kills in the set and were helped by 11 service errors on the part of the Spirit. Five different players each had a kill in the set.
In the second set, the Spirit finally committed an attack error as when they were up 9-3. The Spirit cut down on the service errors, only committing five in the set, the Bucs had four kills. Despite the two errors, the Spirit still hit .619 for the set with 15 kills.
The final set was more of the same although Ottawa came back to earth only hitting .423 for the third stanza. The Bucs had the most kills of any set with six, but also committed eight attack errors as they tried to keep themselves in the match.
Nico Gutierrez and David Shafer each had four kills to account for half of the Bucs production on the evening. Gutierrez hit .333 for the match with only one error in the two sets he played.
The Bucs now open conference play and it doesn’t get any easier as they open at home next Thursday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. with Westcliff who is receiving votes in the latest top-15 volleyball poll.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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