(Mesa, AZ) The Park University Gilbert men’s volleyball team got back on the winning track beating Viterbo University 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 26-24) at Bell Bank Park in Mesa, Ariz. With the win, the Buccaneers (2-11) pick up their second win of the season.
Park Gilbert was without one of its best hitters in sophomore right side hitter David Shaferwho was out with an illness. This made Buccaneers head coach Vince Zanzucchi have to shuffle his rotations and had setter Jake Burdick take Shafer’s spot in the rotation on the right side. Stant responded with one of his best hitting performances as a Buc and sophomore outside hitter Ben Turcinec stepped up his game to pick up the slack.
The Buccaneers jumped out early in the first set, leading by seven at 19-12 and it looked as though the Bucs would cruise to an easy first set win. But an 8-0 Viterbo run erased the advantage and they looked to have the momentum. The Bucs then had a 6-2 run of their own with the help of four hitting errors by the Hawks to come away with a 25-21 first set win.
Viterbo (7-15) came out firing in the second set looking to even the match. The Hawks held the lead early but were never able to pull away and the Buccaneers were able to stay within striking distance tying the score at 18, 19 and 20 before winning five of the final eight points to take a close 25-23 set. With the second set win the Bucs held a 2-0 lead in a match for the first time all season.
The third set was nip and tuck with both teams holding the lead, but neither team ever held more than a two-point advantage. The set saw eight lead changes. On the seventh lead change, Viterbo took a 23-21 lead and was two points from sending the match to a fourth set. A service error, an attack error and a receiving error by the Hawks gave the Bucs a match point. The Hawks were able to stave off the first point, but the Bucs closed it out on its second match point.
Offensively, Turcinec led the Bucs with 16 kills and hit .243. This was his second match this season with 15 or more kills. Stant had six kills with no errors hitting .545. Nico Gutierrezkicked in with 11 kills.
Hunter Miller had a season high 34 assists and led the team with nine digs. Turcinec tied for the team lead with three blocks along with Kade Irvine who had four kills with no errors.
The 43 kills for the Bucs was a season high in a three-set match only trailing the 67 they put away in the five-set win over Pacific Union. The .220 team hitting percentage was the third best for the team this season.
Park Gilbert now returns to conference play as it takes its northern California swing to face Simpson (Mar. 17, 7 p.m.), UC Merced (Mar. 18, 6 p.m.) and Pacific Union (Mar,. 19, 7 p.m.) this weekend.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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