(Mesa, AZ) The Warner University Royals from Babson Park Florida came into Bell Bank Park after losing in straight sets to Benedictine University last night.
The Royals are a member of the Appalachian Athletic Conference and went undefeated in regular season play with a 10-0 record and 14-5 overall.
Park University-Gilbert is having a challenging year at 1-10 in the Cal-Pac Conference and 2-14 overall.
This was the Buccaneers last home match of the regular season and Senior Day.
Park University will host the Cal-Pac Conference Tournament at Bell Bank Park next week.
FIRST SET
The Bucs got on the board first with a back row middle smash and went up 2-1 before Warner came back with a nice service ace to tie it at 3-3 early.
Three of the next four points went to the Royals to go up 6-4.
Park with a few hits out of bounds fell behind 12-8 as the big hitters for the Royals showed their power game.
The Bucs stayed close but were always the chaser as Warner maintained a four to seven point cushion in the middle of the set.
Royals were ahead 23-17 and wanted to close it out quickly but Park ran off three straight points before falling 25-20.
Warner had 13 kills and 3 aces to pace their attack.
SECOND SET
Once again, Park scored first and looked more in tuned holding a 8-4 lead with better passing and spacing than in the opening set.
Things tightened up after a Warner time out as they got within 9-7, but the Buccaneers ran off three consecutive points to get their cushion back at 12-7.
In the middle of the set both teams went back and forth trading points with Park continuing to maintain their lead 22-15.
Bucs went to set point when the Royals hit the ball into the net as Park drew even at one set a piece.
The Bucs’ spacing was much better and moved the ball around not allowing the Royal blockers to double up.
SET THREE
For the third time, the Bucs got the first point, The game stayed tied until the Royals went up 10-9.
The middle of the set saw the Royals put some distance on the Buccaneers going up 20-16 with cannon shots on their kills.
Park made unforced errors to allow the Royals to go up two sets to one with a 25-17 win.
This was the reverse of the second set for Warner as they were the aggressor for the majorly of the set putting more pressure on the Bucs front line and moving the ball better with crisp passes.
Their 25-17 kill lead was the difference in the set although only getting two blocks the entire set.
SET FOUR
Warner finally got on the scoreboard first but the Bucs ran off three straight points to leads 3-1.
Royals came back at tie 3-3 and the teams traded a couple points before Warner started to pull away with a mini run at 8-4.
The edge remained six points in favor of the AAC champs heading down the stretch as Park was starting to feel the pressure and opportunities running short.
Unforced errors at this juncture of the game down 2-1 sets took its toll as the match point was temporarily staved off for just a brief moment as the Royals closed out the match 25-20.
Royals led in kills 55-45, service aces 9-3 and blocks 6-5. Park had just too many attack errors 22-16 to win.
With three ties and only two lead changes, Warner wore down the Park defense and showed their championship pedigree.
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