NAIA tournament or bust. That was the feeling for the Park University Gilbert volleyball team ahead of the 2022 season. The Bucs made the tournament last year and, with everyone returning, anything less then a return trip would have been considered a disappointment. The Buccaneers battled through more adversity during the season than any team had a right to have to deal with. But in the end, the team came together and put together a title run in the California Pacific Conference Tournament, culminating with a thrilling five-set win over Westcliff 3-2 (25-21, 19-25, 17-25, 25-23, 15-7) in the championship game in San Marcos, Calif., this afternoon to send the Bucs back to the promised land for the second year in a row.
"I knew we had the talent to do what we did this week," said Buccaneers head coach Shawn Close. "When we control our side of the court, we are pretty tough to beat. I am so proud of this team. We didn't play well in the second and third sets but didn't blink and finally found our rhythm midway through the fourth and it carried over into the fifth."
The Bucs got off to a solid start, winning the first set by four points. Westcliff jumped out early to a 7-3 lead, but the Bucs answered right back with a 6-0 run of their own to take the lead for good and they were able to build it up to as large as a six-point lead before settling for the four-point first set win.
One of the biggest issues for the Bucs this season has been attack and serve errors. The Bucs managed to overcome eight attack errors and four service errors in the first set, but a combined 20 errors in sets two and three, including hitting a negative -.029 in the third frame put the designated visiting team in peril of not reaching its goal.
The Bucs were now in a position they had not won from all season. Coming into this match, Park Gilbert was 0-3 in matches where its opponent held a 2-1 lead. The Bucs had seen two teams pull out five-set wins against them when they were in the same position. The last time this happened to the Bucs was in the same arena they were playing in today. Almost exactly one month ago, the Buccaneers were up 2-1 at Saint Katherine before the Firebirds won the last two sets to pull off the upset. Today Close's charges would need to reverse the trend.
The fourth set was a battle early with each team holding the lead. When a 7-4 Warriors run put them up 17-14, things were looking bleak. Close called a time out, yet the Warriors still managed to win the first point coming out of the hopeful momentum stopper. Then what could have been a dagger in a heart occurred. Cal Pac Player of the Year Amanda Jonovich went hard to the floor clutching her ankle. Would the Bucs hopes be dashed with their best player having to go briefly to the bench? The great thing about the Bucs this year is they don't win with just one player, it is a complete team effort. The Bucs played without Jonovich for the entire non-conference season when she was out with a wrist injury. With WU leading 20-16, the Bucs leaned on their two graduate students. Makenna Busse and Miranda Bacon combined for five kills down stretch as the Bucs went on a 6-0 run to take a 22-20 lead. At 23-21, Jonovich returned to the court; not necessarily in Willis Reed fashion, but it gave the Bucs another jolt to get over the top and they finished the set winning nine of the final 13 points to take the stanza 25-23.
Midway through the fourth set, Park was hitting .109 as a team which if the match had ended at that point would have been the lowest hitting percentage for the team this season. But the end of the fourth set and the fifth sets saw an offensive resurgence for the Bucs as they returned to the team that is fifth in the nation in hitting percentage.
The two teams exchanged points through the first four points of the final frame before a Bucs 4-1 run gave them a 6-3 lead. The Warriors would never get closer than two points the rest of the way as the Buccaneers posted eight kills with no errors and a .571 hitting percentage to win the final set going away. Again, the Bucs did it with multiple players contributing to the effort, with five different players getting kills (Jonovich 3, Mallory Turner 2, Busse, Bacon and Railey Druxman). The Bucs also took care of things on the defensive end with five blocks. The final two points of the set were won via service ace. One by Druxman and match point off the arm of Jessi Medlin to seal the championship.
The Bucs finished only hitting .182, well below their season total of .258, but an impressive improvement from the .109 they were hitting midway through the fourth set. Park posted 57 kills, 54 assists and 73 digs. The Bucs committed 27 attack errors, but Westcliff also struggled with 26 of their own. Both teams also had difficulties on serve with 12 errors for the Bucs and 11 for the Warriors. Park was better in serve receive as the Warriors only tallied three service aces while Park totaled six. The five blocks in the final set also gave Park the advantage in total blocks (13-11).
Individually, Jonovich led with 16 kills, followed by Busse with 14 and Bacon with 10. Annika Wallace had a season high 33 assists which ties her the third highest total in her career. Wallace also had a career high 12 digs. Hattie Patton led the team with 20 digs. Her ninth 20-plus dig performance of the season while Druxman was also solid on the back end with 15 digs.
The Buccaneers now make their second appearance in as many years in the NAIA Tournament. Last season, the Buccaneers lost in the first round to No. 8 Corban. The team showed its inexperience last season being on the big stage for the first time. This year, they are hoping to make a deep run in the tournament.
The team will host a selection show party to see where they will go and who they will face on the first floor of the Park Gilbert campus on Monday, Nov. 13 at 9 a.m. The selection show can be seen on the NAIA YouTube channel. The Buccaneers will stream the selection show and the team's reaction on the Buccaneer Sports Network starting at 8:45 a.m.
