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PARKVILLE, Mo. — The Park University women’s beach volleyball team opened play on Thursday (April 25) at the 2024 NAIA Women’s Beach Volleyball National Invitational at the Greeneville (Tenn.) Beach Volleyball Complex.

The Pirates, the No. 3 team in the country and No. 3 seed in the tournament, opened the day in Pool B this against the defending national champion No. 7 Vanguard University (Calif.), losing 3-2. It was the first loss for Park to an NAIA team. The Pirates previous losses all came against NCAA schools, including three Division I teams (University of Nebraska, Missouri State University [twice] and Lindenwood University, and two Division II teams (Southwest Baptist University and McKendree University.

Park then bounced back to defeat the University of Saint Katherine (Calif.), 4-1.

The Pirates, 13-7 on the season, wrap up pool play on Friday (April 26) against No. 2 Ottawa University (Ariz., 20-8) at 9 a.m. All eight teams advance to the single-elimination bracket play portion of the tournament on Friday afternoon with the four quarterfinal matches set for noon (Pool A 3rd vs. Pool B 2nd), 1:30 p.m. (Pool A 1st vs. Pool B 4th), 3 p.m. (Pool A 2nd vs. Pool B 3rd) and 4:30 p.m. (Pool A 4th vs. Pool B 1st). On Saturday (April 27), the national semifinals will be played simultaneously at 10 a.m. with the national championship match at 1 p.m.

Park results vs. Vanguard:

• No. 1 — Jullia Alvarez / Serena Arruda, Park, lost to Vanguard, 2-1 (17-21, 21-8, 15-7)
• No. 2 — Arianna Marino / Grecia Ung, Park, lost to Vanguard, 2-1 (24-22, 18-21, 15-5)
• No. 3 — Izabella Ceratti / Carla Pons Sales, Park, lost to Vanguard, 2-0 (21-13, 21-12)
• No. 4 — Mafalda Bras / Luna Martins, Park, defeated Vanguard, 2-0 (21-18, 21-19)
• No. 5 — Patricia Cario Ubeda / Irene Verdino, Park, defeated Vanguard, 2-1 (25-23, 12-21, 16-14)

Park results vs. Saint Katherine:

• No. 1 — Jullia Alvarez / Serena Arruda, Park lost to Saint Katherine, 2-0 (21-15, 21-17)
• No. 2 — Arianna Marino / Grecia Ung, Park defeated Saint Katherine, 2-1 (10-21, 21-15, 15-11)
• No. 3 — Izabella Ceratti / Carla Pons Sales, Park defeated Saint Katherine, 2-1 (21-14, 20-22, 15-12)
• No. 4 — Mafalda Bras / Luna Martins, Park defeated Saint Katherine, 2-0 (21-17, 21-12)
• No. 5 — Patricia Cario Ubeda / Irene Verdino, Park defeated Saint Katherine, 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 15-13)

Also competing in the tournament are (in Pool A): No. 1 Corban University (Ore., 22-3), No. 4 Arizona Christian University (16-14), No. 5 Webber International University (Fla., 18-10) and No. 8 Ave Maria University (Fla., 13-4).

For the uninitiated, in beach volleyball, five two-person teams compete against their respective counterpart (No. 1 vs. No. 1, No. 2 vs. No. 2, etc.). Each match is a best-of-three with the first two sets to 21 and the third set (if needed) to 15 (all sets must be won by two points). The school that is victorious in the majority of the matches against their opponent wins.

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