(Surprise, AZ) The new look Park University Gilbert women’s volleyball team got off to a rocky start, dropping the first two matches in the OUAZ Invitational at Faith Arena in Surprise, Ariz. The Bucs lost to Arizona Christian in the first match 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 13-25, 20-25) and dropped the second match in straight sets to Montana State-Northern 3-0 (15-25, 14-25, 16-25).
Match 1 – Arizona Christian 3, Park Gilbert 1
Match 2- Montana State-Northern 3, Park Gilbert 0
The Bucs jumped out to a big lead right off the bat jumping out to leads of 14-5, 15-6 and 17-7 in the first set, but then a 9-0 run by the Firestorm put them right back in the match and they would finish on an 18-3 run to take the first stanza 25-20.
The Bucs were undeterred and looked the part in the second set using a 10-3 run to open the game up and cruise home to 25-17 second set win.
ACU responded with a resounding 25-13 win in the third set with 13 kills to only 6 for the Bucs. The Firestorm then closed the match out with a 25-20 win in the fourth set.
Park Gilbert kept the errors down, only making 15, but could not generate enough offense with only 30 kills to 49 for the Firestorm.
Freshman Porsche Bauer led the team with 11 kills in her debut and she led the team with four aces. Freshman Uma Lorentzen had 24 assists in her Park debut at setter.
The Buccaneers could not get much going in terms of offense in match two, getting swept by the Skylights in just over an hour.
The Bucs hit negatively in the match (-.064) with 17 kills to 24 errors. Five Buccaneers hit in negative numbers for the match. Mallory Turner led the way with six kills and hitting .250.
Lorentzen had 14 assists and Druxman had 11 digs.
The Buccaneers will return to the court with two matches tomorrow morning. They will take on Montana Western at 8 a.m. before playing host OUAZ at 10:30 a.m. at Faith Arena in Surprise, Ariz.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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