The Park University Gilbert volleyball team (9-6, 2-2) continued to struggle with errors in the attack game and serve game as it fell to the Westcliff Warriors (8-3, 5-0) 3-1 (24-26, 25-23, 22-25, 16-25) in California Pacific Conference action tonight at Bell Bank Park in Mesa, Ariz. This overshadowed an impressive performance by middle blocker Makenna Busse who set a new career high for kills with 17.
"Westcliff was cleaner tonight then we were," said Buccaneers Interim Head Coach Shawn Close. "We showed what we can do at times, but to be the kind of team we believe we can be we have to clean up our side of the floor in all aspects of the game."
The Buccaneers have struggled with errors all season and tonight was not any different. Twenty-four attack errors and 13 service errors were detrimental in the first three sets where each team had major runs to come from large deficits.
The first set saw the Buccaneers trailing 24-18 before making a 6-0 run to tie the match at 24. A Bucs service error and a kill by the Warriors derailed an impressive comeback to give the WU a 1-0 lead. In the set, the Bucs committed out hit the Warriors 15-9 in kill, but also committed eight errors to only three for Westcliff.
The second set saw Park Gilbert make a comeback to win this set. Trailing 18-11, the Bucs went on a 9-1 run to take a 20-19 lead. From there, they managed to hold on for a 25-23 win and seemed to have the momentum in their favor. The Buccaneers once again dominated kills (18-9) but were able to overcome another eight attack errors.
After overcoming the large deficit in the second stanza, the Bucs utilized the momentum to jump our to leads of 5-0 and 8-1 in the third and looked to have taken control of the match. But the Warriors managed to keep chipping away at the lead and finally caught up at 18-all. The two squads exchanged points to 20-20, then WU went on a 5-2 run to close out the set and take a 2-1 advantage. Park Gilbert won the hitting battle again 15-12 and cleaned up the errors with only four attack miscues. But five service errors, including one on set point undid all of the positives in the set.
Losing the third set in the manner they did seem to take the wind out of the Bucs sails as the Warriors pounced at the start of the fourth set jumping out to a 10-4 advantage en route to relatively easy 25-16 final set triumph. Westcliff dominated in every fashion in the set with 17 kills to only one error and a .571 attack percentage.
As a team the Bucs had 11 more kills but 14 more hitting errors, two more aces but four more serve errors. The Bucs had more assists and digs but did trail in blocks and attack percentage.
Offensively, Busse was virtually unstoppable, posting 17 kills and only three errors for a .519 attack percentage. The 17 kills were a career high, besting her 13 kills against Embry Riddle last season. Amanda Jonovich posted a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. Railey Druxman led the team with 20 digs, her second 20+ dig match of the year. Annika Wallace had 16 assists, while Jenifer Lauer and Melissa Blockey both had 14 dimes.
The Buccaneers have a chance to get the bad taste out of their mouths quickly with a quick turnaround as they take on Saint Katherine tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Bell Bank Park. The Bucs and Firebirds had two memorable five-set thrillers a year ago, both won by Park Gilbert.
