After dropping two straight Cal Pac games for the first time in school history, The Park University Gilbert volleyball team got back on the winning track with two consecutive wins as they defeated the University of Antelope Valley 3-1 (24-26, 25-18, 25-18, 25-14) on Friday afternoon and Providence Christian 3-2 (21-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-7) in the final two matches of a three-match California road trip. With the wins the Bucs climb back above .500 at 7-5 and move to 6-2 in the Cal Pac Arizona division.
The Buccaneers decided to give their fans a thriller on Saturday, making their second 0-2 comeback of the season to beat the Seabeggars. Providence Christian has struggled most of this season only winning one conference match so far this season.
"They are trying to give me a heart attack at a young age," head coach Clay Webb said jokingly. "Seriously, I'm proud of how they competed and came back in this match. Providence came out really strong and we were able to weather the early storm and get back to playing Buccaneers Volleyball."
As the defending regular season champions, the one thing the Bucs have had to deal with this season is every conference opponent giving their best effort against the Bucs. This was no different from the Seabeggars as they came out like a house on fire with 29 kills with only four errors in the first two sets to put the Bucs in an 0-2 hole.
Fortunately, the Bucs now have experience with an 0-2 deficit, having comeback in their last California trip against Saint Katherine and they were able to draw on that experience today.
Set three finally saw the Seabeggars come down a level as they made two times as many errors in set three as they had made in the first two sets and the Bucs cleaned up their play to take a close 25-23 set. Set four saw both teams struggle hitting, but the Bucs got up by as many as six in the set and was able to stave off a late rally to win 25-22.
Boris Becker once said the fifth set is not about the game, it is about the mental battle. Becker was referring to the sport of tennis, but the sentiment is the same in volleyball. The momentum the Buccaneers built in taking sets three and four, seemed to raise the Buccaneers spirits and demoralize the 'Beggars. The final set result showed this as Park Gilbert was never challenged in the set rolling to a 15-7 win to clinch the match.
Amanda Jonovich posted another double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs. Miranda Bacon tallied 11 kills. Hattie Patton and Gabriela Morales had 11 and 10 digs, respectively. Melissa Blockey and Annika Wallace combined for 38 assists.
Friday's match was originally scheduled to be played at 7 p.m., but due to an issue with officials, forced the match to be moved to a 3 p.m. start. Initially the Bucs looked as though the time change messed with Buccaneers preparations.
Set one provided a roller coaster of emotions as the Buccaneers and Pioneers went back and forth exchanging the lead before the Bucs pulled ahead 19-15. The Pioneers held tough and bad passing by the Buccaneers late along with clutch attacks by UAV gave the Pioneers a 26-24 first set win. Park Gilbert out hit UAV by 17 kills to nine, with a .302 attack percentage but UAV only committed two attack errors for the set which kept them competitive.
The next three sets saw the Buccaneers never trail again as they jumped ahead in all three sets with better passing and ferocious hitting. When it was all said and done, the Bucs had 57 kills to only 35 for the Pioneers and hit .285 for the match.
Jonovich continues to carry the Bucs with 17 kills, 16 digs and a .464 hitting percentage. Sophomore Lexi Golleher had her best match as a Buccaneer, setting a career high for kills with 10. Patton posted her fourth 20-plus dig match of the season, posting 20 digs on the nose to go along with seven assists. The setting duo of Annika Wallace and Melissa Blockey had 23 and 18 assists respectively and the duo had five kills combined with no errors. The 23 assists for Wallace was a career high. The middle blocking duo of Elizabeth Clemit (8 kills) and Makenna Busse (5 kills) helped to free up the outside hitters by hitting .276 as a duo with their 13 combined kills.
The Buccaneers now take 12 days off before getting a rematch with Embry Riddle. This time, the match will be in the friendly confines of the Arizona Region Volleyball Center on Thursday, October 14 at 6 p.m.
