The last 12 months have been filled with stops, starts. Just a couple months ago, no one was certain if there would even be a Cal Pac volleyball season. Equipped with tireless COVID-19 testing, the Park University Gilbert women's volleyball team pulled up their masks and set their sights on one goal: becoming Cal Pac regular season champions.
With a 3-0 (25-9, 25-7 and 25-10) win over Pacific Union, the Buccaneers achieved that goal.
"Super, super proud of this team's hard work," head coach Clay Webb said. "We started off the year knowing that this is a stepping stone for this university to put ourselves on the map and create history. This is the first time that any team in the whole university has done something like this and we're proud we got to accomplish that."
The Bucs never fell behind in sets one or two, but the Pioneers threatened to prolong their championship celebration; they went on an 8-4 run to make it a 21-18 Bucs lead late before Jasmine Urban's kill and a trio by Georgia Romine-Black sealed the championship for the Buccaneers. Off the bench, Romine-Black finished the match with a game-high 11 kills and an outstanding .625 kill percentage.
Several other Bucs had impressive performances as they clinched the title, including eight kills by Kayla Wieserman, seven from Autumn Wood and four by Miranda Bacon with a perfect kill percentage. Jenifer Lauer had 42 assists in the three sets.
With the regular season championship locked up, game two of the doubleheader was nothing more than a formality and it gave several Bucs who had seen minimal playing time throughout the season an opportunity to shine. They fell behind early in sets one and two, but found some rhythm and came back in both sets.
Makenna Busse led things with 10 kills and a .600 hitting percentage, while Cierra Bevilockway racked up 26 assists and 11 digs. Urban added seven kills, but dropped set three before Webb put in his starters to finish off the match (25-16, 25-17, 19-25 and 25-10) and put a cap on the near perfect season.
Because Park University Gilbert is still in its second year of athletic existence and not yet eligible for postseason competition, the regular season championship is as far as the Buccaneers are allowed to go. Nevertheless, it's rare for a college program with just two seasons under their belt to accomplish what Webb's team has. They did it behind a 12-game winning streak to finish the season 10-1. The only blemish on the Bucs' record was an opening day loss to Benedictine Mesa which became a turning point in the season.
"I was playing around with some lineups and we made some unforced errors that didn't really help us," Webb said. "If we stuck with our end of the year lineup was, we probably walk away undefeated, but that's on me as a coach. We were trying to find what was right and we did as we continued on."
They preyed on a struggling Providence Christian team to gain some confidence going forward with tougher conference matchups on the horizon. Then the Bucs capitalized on their chance for revenge when they played the Redhawks again on Mar. 19 and edged them out in five sets.
From there, the regular season title seemed well in reach, but they still had one more uphill battle to climb: Saint Katherine; they had held onto the conference's first place spot for much of the season, but it was not enough to intimidate the Buccaneers as they dethroned the Firebirds of their top spot.
With every player being given an extra year of eligibility by the NAIA, it is enticing to think about what this team can achieve next season- especially when you consider the talent that is returning.
In year three, the Buccaneers will be postseason eligible for the first time. With most of this season's squad expected to return and only be enhanced by an impressive recruiting class, their eyes are not only set on repeating as Cal Pac regular season champions; they want to win the Cal Pac tournament and the NAIA national championship.
