Park University men鈥檚 volleyball advances to NAIA National Semifinals
PARKVILLE, Mo. — The No. 1 ranked Park University men鈥檚 volleyball team has advanced to the 2026 NAIA Men鈥檚 Volleyball National Championship semifinals after defeating No. 8 Ottawa University (Ariz., sister location to Ottawa [Kan.] University), 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-23) at Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Thursday night (April 30). Park is now 33-0 on the season. Twenty-two 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 play in the national semifinals today (May 1) at 4 p.m. against No. 4 Missouri Valley College (25-5). The Pirates and the Vikings are no strangers as they are rivals in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Park has defeated Missouri Valley three times during the 2026 season 鈥� 3-1 in Marshall, Mo., on Feb. 14; 3-1 in Parkville, Mo., on March 14, and 3-2 in the championship match of the HAAC post-season tournament in Parkville on April 18.
The second semifinal (at 7:30 p.m.) will feature No. 2 The Master鈥檚 University (Calif., 24-1) vs. No. 3 St. Xavier University (Ill., 30-3). The national championship match will be held on Saturday, May 2, at 5 p.m.
In the first set against Ottawa, the Pirates jumped out to an early 8-3 lead, but the Spirit bounced back to take a 14-13 advantage. Park, however, scored 12 of the final 18 points to take the set. The Pirates hit .308 in the set, putting down 13 kills on 26 attacks with just five errors, while Ottawa struggled, hitting .036 with 10 kills on 28 attacks, but committing 9 errors.
In the second set, Park held a 14-11 lead midway through, but Ottawa fought back to score six straight to take a 17-14 advantage. But the Pirates had the last say in the set, scoring 11 of the next 15 points to end it. Park dominated at the net in the set, hitting .550 with 13 kills on 20 attacks with just 2 errors, while Ottawa hit .185 with 13 kills on 27 attacks, but committing 8 errors.
In the third set, Ottawa jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and went up four at 9-5 before Park fought back to tie things at 11-11. The teams continued to trade points before Park took its first lead of the set at 16-15 and added another to take a 17-15 advantage, forcing Ottawa to take a timeout. Park pushed the lead to five points at 22-17 before Ottawa came back and got to within one at 23-22. A kill by the Pirates Adrian Figueroa put Park at match point, but following a service error by Park鈥檚 Murillo Silva, Ottawa鈥檚 A.J. Scott returned the favor to give the Pirates the victory.
For the match, Park hit .355, putting down 41 kills on 76 attacks with 14 errors, while Ottawa hit just .143 with 34 kills on 84 attacks with 22 errors. The Pirates also put up 10.5 total blocks. Individually for Park, Figueroa led the way with 16 kills, hitting .333, while Silva added 13 kills on a .318 clip. Jovan Nikokic dished out 28 assists and Moises Ortiz had 6 total blocks
For more information about the tournament, https://www.naia.org/sports/mvball/index.
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