The Park University Gilbert volleyball team got off to a solid start in the OUAZ Volleyball Invitational hosted by Ottawa University Arizona in Surprise, Ariz., by winning its first two matches. The Bucs beat Wayland Baptist 3-0 and then defeated College of Idaho in a five-set thriller 3-2. With the two wins, the Bucs even their record on the season at 3-3.
Match 1 - Park Gilbert 3, Wayland Baptist 0
The Buccaneers got the tournament started on the right foot, sweeping a game Wayland Baptist squad 3-0 (27-25, 27-25, 25-21).
Park Gilbert dominated the hitting totals, but the first two sets were nail biters which could have gone either way.
The Buccaneers had 50 kills and 11 service aces, but their 25 attack errors offset the offensive dominance to keep the Pioneers in the match. WBU did their part to contribute to Bucs attack woes as it had 11 blocks on the day.
In the first set, Park Gilbert led by as many as six (16-10), but WBU went on a 7-1 run to tie the score at 17-all. It was nip and tuck the rest of the way, with WBU holding two set points at 24-23 and 25-24 before a Railey Druxman kill and an Annika Wallace ace gave the Bucs their first set point. They took advantage, forcing a WBU attack error to take the opening frame.
Set two was even closer as the largest lead by either side was a three-point advantage for the Pioneers at 17-14. The Bucs then went on a 4-0 run to take the lead, then neither team had more than a point lead until the Bucs won the set 27-25. Park Gilbert staved off another set point at 24-23 and finally won on its second set point.
The third set was a close one until they were knotted at 18-all. Park Gilbert finished with a 7-3 run to finish the match and move to 1-0 in the invitational.
Druxman led the team with 15 kills, one off of her career high. She also posted her first double-double as she also had 10 digs. The Springtown, Texas native hit .345 and also added a service ace. Miranda Bacon added 11 kills and hit .409 and also added two blocks and four digs. Freshman middle Mallory Turner had seven kills with only one error to hit .400 and had the other two blocks for the Bucs. Jenifer Lauer (24) and Annika Wallace (14) led the way in assists
Match 2 – Park Gilbert 3, College of Idaho 2
The Buccaneers had six hours between matches which is a long time to attempt to maintain your focus. But despite lackluster first and fourth sets, the Bucs righted the ship to walk away with a 3-2 win (18-25, 25-22, 25-16, 14-25, 15-12).
The first set seemed to validate the time off theory as the Coyotes jumped out to 8-1 advantage as the Bucs sleepwalked through the early part of the set. After a time out, the Bucs went on a 10-4 run to cut the deficit to one but would not get any closer as the College of Idaho would ultimately prevail in the set by the same seven-point margin it held early in the match. Park had 12 attack errors and hit a -.103 for the set.
Sets two and three saw the Bucs ready to go from the jump and their aggressive attacking play, solid defense and pinpoint serving enabled them to control play and take a 2-1 advantage. Last year, Park Gilbert was 6-0 when leading 2-1 and they looked to be in a good position to continue the streak.
Set two saw the Bucs cut their attack errors from 12 to 4 and more than double their kills from 8 to 19. This resulted in a gaudy .357 hitting percentage in the set and it only got better in set three.
The third stanza saw Park once again minimize its errors only committing three while putting away 16 kills and improving on its second set hitting percentage, rising to a stratospheric .407.
For as well as they played in the second and third sets, the Bucs reverted to their first set woes in set four. The College of Idaho jumped out to a 12-5 lead and never looked back en route to a dominating 25-14 fourth frame triumph.
Last year, the Buccaneers went undefeated in five-set matches (7-0). For a moment it looked as though the streak might come to an end as the Bucs found themselves trailing 10-7 and all the momentum was in the Coyotes corner. But a well-timed time out by head coach Clay Webb righted the ship and the Bucs went on a 6-0 run to take a 13-10 lead. Five of those points came on the serving arm of Lauer whose anti-wobbler knuckleball of a serve elicited one ace and a plethora of bad receiving passes which put the Coyotes on their heels and unable to produce effective offense. The match ended on Druxman's 17th kill of the match which set a school record for a freshman, passing the mark she held with Amanda Jonovich.
Bacon had 10 kills and hit .320, while Brooke Beresford, the Hope International transfer, had her best match as a Buc with nine kills and hitting .300. Hattie Patton posted her fifth career 20-dig match as she hit 20 on the nose. Freshman Ashli Dean also hit double digits in digs for the first time in her career with 10.
Day two of the OUAZ Invitational gets underway for the Buccaneers tomorrow morning as they start with a 9 a.m. match with Carroll (Mont.) College. They end the tournament at 4:30 p.m. with a familiar foe in Montana State-Northern who they have faced three times and lost to twice including in the season opener last season.
