Receiving votes in the NAIA top 25 poll looks good on them so far. The Park University Gilbert women's volleyball team after finding its name in the receiving votes category of the NAIA Top 25 poll for the first time in its short history got off to a 2-0 start in the Arizona Christian Labor Day Classic sweeping host school ACU 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-14) and Montana Western 3-0 (26-24, 25-13, 27-25). With the wins the Buccaneers move to 6-4 on the season
Match 1 – Park Gilbert 3, Arizona Christian 0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-14)
The first match was a history making one for the Buccaneers as they defeated ACU for the first time. This time in convincing fashion, with a 3-0 sweep. ACU had held a 4-0 lead in the season series entering the contest, although three of the triumphs came in the Bucs inaugural season as a program. This looked to be a tough matchup on paper as ACU was 2-2 on the season with a win over a ranked opponent but the Bucs made the Firestorm look pedestrian.
Park Gilbert dominated the stat sheet, leading in kills (48-26), attacks (109-92), assists (43-24), digs (43-32) and blocks (11-10). This dominance on the scoresheet translated to the scoreboard as the Buccaneers cruised to the three-set win.
Maggie Scranton led the offensive attack with her best outing as a Buccaneers with 11 kills and hitting .500 for the contest. Makenna Busse followed suit with her best match of the season with 10 kills. Hattie Patton led the defensive charge with 14 digs and Melissa Blockey had a season high 25 assists.
Match 2 – Park Gilbert 3, Montana Western 0 (26-24, 25-13, 27-25)
On paper this looked to be the easier of the two matches for the Bucs. Montana Western came in winless and looked to be and easy mark. But as they say, "this is why you play the games." The Bulldogs gave the Bucs a scare in the first and third sets as they held two set points in the opening set and had the match tied at 24 and 25 in the third set.
The Buccos cut down on their attack errors in this contest as they only committed 15 miscues on the attacking end and while they did not dominate in kills as they normally do (36-33 advantage), they had 10 service aces which earned them a plethora of free points.
Railey Druxman led the Bucs in kills with 11 while almost hitting .300 (.296). She also had four of the 10 aces which was a career high. Annika Wallace led the assist parade with 16 while Blockey added another 11.
Up next, Park Gilbert finishes play in the ACU Labor Day Classic taking on the University of Providence. The Argos were ranked 10th in the country in the preseason poll after posting a 28-3 record a year ago. So far this season they are 1-6 entering the classic, but with a program so steeped in a winning tradition, the Buccaneers will still need to come with their best effort to come away with a victory.
