Park University women鈥檚 volleyball season ends in National Quarterfinals
PARKVILLE, Mo. — Park University, the No. 13 seeded team at the NAIA Women鈥檚 Volleyball National Championship lost in the national quarterfinals this afternoon at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. The Pirates fell to No. 5 Corban University (Ore.), 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-18). It was the first time Corban has defeated Park in the national tournament in four matchups.
Park ends its season with a 29-6 record, with five of the six losses coming to teams ranked/seeded higher than the Pirates 鈥� No. 3 Midland University (Neb.), No. 5 Corban University (Ore.), No. 8 Northwestern College (Iowa) and No. 11 MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan., twice).
Park, which was seeking its third national title in school history 鈥� having won the championship in 2014 (with a perfect 40-0 record) and in 2018 鈥� won 26 of their last 29 matches, including 20 sweeps.
Corban improves to 32-4 on the season and advances to play in the national semifinals on Monday (Dec. 5) night at 5 p.m. against No. 1 Eastern Oregon University (34-2).
In set one against Corban, Park held a 14-9 lead midway through, but Corban fought back with a 6-1 run to tie the set at 15. Later, the Pirates had a 22-21 lead, but the Warriors came back to score the final four points of the set for the win.
In set two, Park again had a lead at 10-9, but it was the last lead of the set for the Pirates as Corban reeled off 14 of the next 18 points to take a 23-14 advantage before closing out the set. Park was hampered in the set by hitting -.036, getting just seven kills on 28 attacks and eight errors.
In set three, Corban dominated the early portion, jumping out to a 10-3 advantage. Park, however, didn鈥檛 give up and tied the set at 12, scoring nine of the next 11 points. The set was tied at 15 before the Warriors closed out the match by scoring 10 of the final 13 points.
Malaina Hensley led Park with eight kills, while Jullia Alvarez dished out 22 assists and Irene Verdino had 13 digs.
The Pirates have a 36-12 record in the national tournament since 2013 (Park鈥檚 first year in the tourney). Overall, the Pirates sport a 320-44 (87.9%) record since 2013.
Monday鈥檚 other semifinal (8 p.m.) will feature the winners of the University of Jamestown (S.D.) vs. Columbia (Mo.) College match (starts at 5 p.m. Saturday) and the Midland University (Neb.) vs. Dakota Wesleyan University (S.D.) match (starts at 8 p.m. Saturday).
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