Things were looking bleak for the Park University Gilbert volleyball team just an hour into their match with the University of the Saint Katherine. The Buccaneers found themselves trailing the Firebirds 0-2 after two sets and facing a daunting task – attempt to come from two sets to none down to win a match. No Buccaneers team had accomplished this feat before … until tonight. Behind 14 kills from Amanda Jonovich and 13 from Miranda Bacon, the Buccaneers (2-3, 1-0) won the final three sets to take a 3-2 (13-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 16-14) road win in their Cal Pac Conference opener against the Firebirds (5-3, 0-1).
"(I'm) extremely proud of the way we handled adversity tonight," said Buccaneers head coach Clay Webb. "We didn't play our best at first, but we battled back. USK played extremely clean volleyball and made us work for every point."
The night started on an ominous note as starting setter and reigning Cal Pac Setter of the Year Jenifer Lauer twisted her ankle before the match and was unable to play. Fortunately, Webb has two other capable setters in Melissa Blockey and Annika Wallace. The Bucs switched to a 6-2 offense on the fly and eventually pulled out the win.
"When one of your main starters goes down you have to make adjustments." said Webb.
To say Park Gilbert came out sluggish would be an understatement. The Bucs only had six kills in the opening frame to 15 for the Firebirds. This was a product of poor passing in serve receive which made it difficult on the setters to put the hitters in successful positions.
The Buccaneers fell behind in the second set as well but started to find their way late in the set and started to build momentum going into the third set. Park outhit Saint Katherine in second set in kills and percentage which showed light at the end of the tunnel and gave an inkling into what was about to happen over the final three sets.
In sets three and four, Park continued to improve in all facets They out hit Saint Katherine 24-21 combined in kills and had a better hitting percentage. They also started to step up on the defensive end as they kept more balls in play. This enabled them to pull out two tight sets 25-22 and 25-21.
The final stanza saw the Bucs fall behind early before making another comeback. The Bucs never fell behind by more than a couple points before finally knotting the score at eight, nine, 10 and 11. The Bucs then took a 13-11 lead to force a Firebird timeout. Out of the break the Firebirds came back to tie the match at 13 and then again at 14. The penultimate point saw a back-and-forth battle that ended with the Firebirds watch the ball hit the ground on their side after a bump off a zero block by the Bucs. On the decisive point, the Gabriela Morales served up her second ace on the night to end the match.
In addition to her 14 kills, Jonovich also set a career high for digs with 21. Libero Hattie Patton also set a career high for digs with 28 which is one off the school record, plus she had four aces (a career high) and nine assists. Bacon hit .306 with her 13 kills. Blockey and Wallace had 20 and 13 assists respectively in relief of the injured Lauer.
"I'm glad we were able to start off the conference season with a big win," said Webb. "I couldn't be happier with the progress we've made."
Park Gilbert will try to take the momentum of this match into their next two conference matches over the next two days. The Bucs face off with Marymount California (1-7) tomorrow starting at 5 p.m. and Westcliff (2-5) on Saturday at 12 p.m.
