(Mesa, AZ). Oh, so close. The Park University Gilbert volleyball team held set points in three out of the four sets played tonight in a 3-1 (25-14, 24-26, 18-25, 26-28) loss at the hands of Arizona Christian University at Arizona Athletic Grounds.
Park Gilbert falls to 4-7 overall and 0-7 in GSAC play. ACU moves to 13-10, 2-4.
The Buccaneers came out on fire in the first set blitzing the Firestorm in a 25-14 first set triumph. The Bucs posted nine kills and hit .333 in the opening frame, while the Firestorm had 10 attack errors en route to hitting -.138.
ACU settled down in the second set and had an 18-11 lead and looked to be in good shape to easily win the set, but Park had other ideas. The Buccos went on a 13-5 run to take the lead at 24-23 and give themselves a set point to take 2-0 lead. A service error, a receiving error and an attack error spoiled the comeback and the Buccos fell 24-26. Park has 12 kills and five errors for the set while ACU had 15 kills and six errors.
The third set saw the Bucs level drop a smidge as they hit .000 for the frame with eight kills and eight errors. Meanwhile the Firestorm continued to play strong with 14 kills and three aces.
Set four would be another barn burner as the set was dominated by runs. ACU started with a 6-1 lead, before the Bucs would go on a 6-1 run of its own to knot the score at 7-7. Then it became a back and forth contest with ACU building to a 19-14 advantage before Park would rattle off six straight points to take a 20-19 lead. The Firestorm responded with a 3-0 run of their own to lead 22-20. The Bucs then went on a 4-1 run to earn themselves another set point to take the match to a fifth and deciding set. But ACU would stave off two set points with two kills of their own. Park would save one match point at 26-25 before ultimately falling on the Firestorms second match point to lose 28-26.
Park had 41 kills and 25 errors on the evening and hit .114. ACU had 50 kills and 30 errors to hit .123. The Bucs won the serving battle with nine aces to seven for the Firestorm while both teams were even with 70 digs each.
The Bucs middles led the way as Mallory Turner had 10 kills, hitting .333, while Charyiah Curry had nine kills and hit .500. Kyla Knight and Jessica Goldsmith had 8 and 7 kills, respectively.
Daniella Miranda-Johnson led the team with 21 assists and Leilani Pollard led the team with 17 digs. Both Turner and Curry had four blocks (1 solo and 3 block assist).
Miranda-Johnson also had six aces on the night which moved her into sixth place on the school’s all-time aces list. She also became the third player in school history to eclipse over 700 assists.
The Bucs get almost a week off before they travel across town for a rematch with OUAZ at Faith Arena in Surprise, Ariz. on Thursday, Oct. 17. The Bucs fell 3-0 to Spirit to open conference play last month.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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