Park Pirates women鈥檚 volleyball team advances to NAIA National Tournament final site
PARKVILLE, Mo. — Park University鈥檚 women鈥檚 volleyball team has advanced to the final site of the NAIA National Championship Tournament for the 11th straight year. The Pirates look to rebound from a national quarterfinals loss last year after losing in the national title match in 2021.
On Saturday, (Nov. 18), the Pirates swept University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) in three sets in the national tournament鈥檚 opening round at Breckon Sports Center on Park鈥檚 flagship Parkville (Mo.) Campus to advance to the final site 鈥� the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, Wednesday, Nov. 29, through Tuesday, Dec. 5.
The Pirates, 31-2 on the season and the No. 6 seed in the tournament, will open pool play in Pool F on Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. against No. 19 Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio, 31-7). Following a rest day on Nov. 30, Park will conclude pool play on Friday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m. against No. 11 and former American Midwest Conference rival Columbia (Mo.) College (30-6).
Park heads to Sioux City having won 27 straight matches, including 19 sweeps. The Pirates started the year 3-0, but lost two of three matches over Labor Day weekend, dropping its lone matches on the season to No. 1 Northwestern College (Iowa) and No. 4 Concordia (Neb.) University. Park has not lost since Sept. 2.
The winners of all eight pools advance to the national quarterfinals on Saturday, Dec. 2. After an off-day on Sunday, Dec. 3, the national semifinals will be Monday, Dec. 4, with the national championship match on Dec. 7.
The Pirates, the national champs in 2014 (with an undefeated 40-0 record) and in 2018, have a 38-12 record in the national tournament since 2013 (Park鈥檚 first year in the tourney). Overall, the Pirates sport a 351-46 (88.4%) record since 2013. Head coach Mike Talamantes has a 400-67 (85.6) for Park鈥檚 women鈥檚 team since he started in 2011. Including his men鈥檚 record of 269-67 (79.5%) and three national titles (2012, 2014, 2017) since 2012, Talamantes has an overall record of 669-134 (83.3) and five national championships.
While Park is the only Kansas City region school to advance to Sioux City, two other schools from Missouri have advanced 鈥� Columbia College (as mentioned above) and No. 8 Missouri Baptist University (26-6).
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