It was a hard fought three matches, but the Park University Gilbert women's volleyball team showed their mettle as they swept all three matches at the University of California at Merced (3-5, 3-5 Cal Pac), winning a double header today by identical 3-1 scores after winning yesterday 3-2. With the wins, the Buccaneers up their record to 6-1, 6-1 in the Cal Pac Conference. They currently sit in third place in the conference.
"Credit to UC-Merced," said Buccaneers head coach Clay Webb. "They made us earn every point and we didn't back away from the challenge. I've told this team I truly feel if we are in control of our side of the net and stay disciplined on defense, we are extremely hard to beat."
In both matches, UC Merced pulled out a tough first set followed by Park Gilbert answering with three straight set wins to take the match.
In the first match, the Bobcats won set one 28-26, behind a .265 hitting percentage as they only made three errors in the first frame to 10 hitting miscues for the Bucs. Merced led most of the set by as many as five points before the Bucs rallied to tie the match at 22-all. The Bucs took the lead and had three set points the 'Cats able to stave off before winning the set 28-26.
Park Gilbert turned the tables in set two only making three attack errors to 10 for Merced. The Bucs hit .286 in the set while the 'Cats hit .000. Park Gilbert broke away early before Merced rallied to tie the match 17-all. Park then went on an 8-3 run to close out the set to know the match at 1-1.
To say sets three and four were tight would be an understatement. In both sets the errors were even (3-3 and 7-7), Merced had a slight lead in kills in set three (16-12) and kills were even in set four (13-13). This difference came on serve. The Bucs had 10 aces (7-3) and six serve errors (2-4) to three aces (3-0) and six serve errors (5-1) for the Bobcats. For the match, the Bucs had 16 aces to only five for Merced.
In set four, Merced led 24-21 with two set points to send the match to a fifth set. But a kill by Kayla Wieserman, an attack error and set error by Merced tied the match at 24. Then a kill by Miranda Bacon and a service ace by Gabriela Morales finished off the match. Morales also had a service ace to end set three as well.
The Buccaneer middle blockers ruled the match as Wieserman (15 kills, .538%) and Makenna Busse (11 kills, .474%) dominated play offensively at the net. Wieserman's 15 kills set a career high for the senior middle. Miranda Bacon (12 kills, .313%) and Amanda Jonovich (nine kills) added to the Bucs offensive firepower. Setter Jenifer Lauer had 44 assists for the match and Georgia Romine-Black (11 digs) and Morales (10 digs) anchored a strong Bucs defense against some powerful Bobcat hitters.
"Our middles played great today and helped to open up out pins," said Webb. "Jen did an amazing job of spreading the ball around and getting our hitters one on one matchups."
The first set of match two looked eerily similar to sets three and four of the first match. A back-and-forth battle that could go either way. This time it went in favor of the Bobcats 27-25, despite Park Gilbert out hitting Merced 16-10 in kills and .216 to .182 in percentage. But those impressive hitting numbers were a harbinger of things to come. Unlike match one where the last three sets were close, the Buccaneers pulled away in the final three sets of match two. The Bucs won the final three stanzas 25-16, 25-16 and 25-21. The Bucs dominated in service aces again for the match with 13 to only two for the Bobcats.
Jonovich and Bacon led the way with 14 kills each. They also each had nine and eight digs, respectively. Autumn Wood added eight kills and hit .583. Lauer dished out 37 assists and tacked on five digs.
Things do not get any easier for Webb's charges as they have three matches next week which should clarify the pecking order in the Cal Pac. It starts with the rubber match with Benedictine Mesa next Wednesday, March 17. The Redhawks and Buccaneers have split their two matches so far. The Redhawks sit in second place at 7-1 in the conference Then next Friday, March 19, the first place Saint Katherine Firebirds come to town for a double header.
"We have three big matches next week," said Webb. "The one with BenU will be the tiebreaker of the season series and from what I've seen on paper and film we are in for a challenge against Saint Katherine."
Both the match with Benedictine Mesa and the double header with Saint Katherine start at 11 a.m. on Wednesday and Friday at the Arizona Region Volleyball center. No fans are allowed for these matches.
