Park University men鈥檚 volleyball wins opening match at NAIA National Tournament
PARKVILLE, Mo. — The No. 1 ranked Park University men鈥檚 volleyball team opened play in the 2026 NAIA Men鈥檚 Volleyball National Championship at Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, tonight, sweeping No. 9 Westcliff University (Calif.), 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-18). Park is now 32-0 on the season. Twenty-one of Park鈥檚 victories this season have been three-set sweeps, and only three times have the Pirates been forced to a fifth set.
Park, which has won the NAIA men鈥檚 volleyball national title five times (2003, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2017), will have a rest day tomorrow (Wednesday, April 29). Park will close out pool play on Thursday (April 30) with a match against No. 8 seed Ottawa University (Ariz., 20-5) at 7 p.m.
In the first set against Westcliff, it was a back-and-forth affair early. The set was tied 14-14 before Park scored four straight to take an 18-14 lead. The Warriors were able to get to within two at 23-21 Park, but a service error by Westcliff and a kill by Adrian Figueroa closed out the set. Park struggled a bit in the set, hitting just .152 (12 kills on 34 attacks with 7 errors, but Westcliff had a tougher time, hitting .000 (10 kills on 34 attacks with 10 errors).
In the second set, Park found itself down 10-5, but rallied with five straight points to tie the set at 10-10. The Warriors, though, scored 11 of the next 18 points to take a 21-17 advantage. But the Pirates fought back, cutting the deficit to 23-20 before scoring the final five points of the set, the last of which had to go to a 3-minute video review to confirm an attack error by Westcliff that went out of bounds.
In the third set, Park dominated and never trailed. The Pirates led by as many as nine points during the set, hitting .360 (11 kills on 25 attacks with just 2 errors), while holding Westcliff to just .086 hitting (11 kills on 35 attacks with 8 errors).
For the match, Park hit .189, with 34 kills on 95 attacks with 16 errors, while Westcliff finished with a .065 hitting percentage, getting 34 kills on 108 attacks, but Warriors committed 27 errors.
The Pirates were led by Adrian Figueroa who had 16 kills and a .364 hitting percentage, while adding 9 digs and 4 total blocks. Jovan Nikokic dished out 26 assists.
The Heart of America Athletic Conference, of which Park is a member, has four of the 12 teams in the national tournament, including: No. 4 Missouri Valley College, which defeated No. 12 Indiana Tech University, 3-0; No. 6 Mount Mercy University (Iowa), which had a rest day; and No. 10 William Penn University (Iowa), which lost 3-0 to No. 2 The Master鈥檚 University (Calif.).
Should the Pirates win their pool (Pool A), they will advance to the national semifinals on Friday, May 1, at 4 p.m. against the winner of Pool D (either No. 4 Missouri Valley College, No. 5 Campbellsville (Ky.) University or No. 12 Indiana Tech University). The national championship match will be held on Saturday, May 2, at 5 p.m.
For more information about the tournament, .
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