A rivalry renewed and an instant classic ensued as the Park University Gilbert women's volleyball played an exciting match against Benedictine Mesa this evening at Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz. The Buccaneers (5-15, 1-8 GSAC) held a two sets to one lead but could not hold on and fell in five sets 3-2 (28-26, 14-25, 25-19, 19-25, 11-15).

The Redhawks upped their record to 13-7, 5-5 in GSAC play.

This match was a throwback to the thrilling matches these two teams played from 2020-2022 when these two schools were battling for supremacy in the California Pacific Conference. In that stretch, they played eight consecutive matches which went four or five sets. Half of the those matches went five sets with the Bucs going 3-1 in those matches and 5-3 overall.

Since then, BENU has dominated the matchup winning five matches in a row. But the last two matches played have returned to those of the four and five set variety.

The first set saw the Bucs jump out to an early 7-3 lead but the Redhawks would come back to tie things at 7-7. For the rest of the match, it was a see-saw battle. The last lead the Buccos would hold before winning the set was a t 10-8. Benedictine tied the set at 10 and then would not trail again until the very end.  Park Gilbert staved off three set points before winning three consecutive points to win the set. Benedictine had 17 kills to 15 for Park but the Bucs were more efficient with only six errors while the Redhawks had eight.

BENU responded by winning the second set relatively quickly, posting 14 kills. The Bucs were more error prone with seven hitting miscues in the set.

The Bucs benefitted in the third set from some errant play from the Redhawks as they committed nine attack errors and four service errors in the frame. The Bucs didn't have as many kills but were cleaner with five hitting errors to take the third set and take a 2-1 advantage.

The Bucs were 1-1 this year when leading 2-1, having won at Florida College in August and dropping a five-set contest to Life Pacific in September. If you looked at the numbers from the fourth set, you would have thought the Bucs won the set going away. BENU only had five kills and four errors, while the Bucs had 12 kills. Unfortunately for the Buccos, they gifted 17 points to BENU with 11 attack errors, four receiving errors and three service errors.  

The final frame saw the Redhawks take the momentum from the fourth set and jumped out to a 7-2 lead. It was a deficit they could not overcome as they were not able to cut the lead to less than four points the rest of the way as BENU would take home the win with a 15-11 fifth-set triumph.

Individually, the Bucs had a couple of career highs to celebrate as libero Isari Vigil, set a career high for digs with 29. It was not only a career high; it obliterated her previous high which was 11 on two occasions. Her 29 digs are third best in school history.

Porsche Bauer tied her career high for digs with 13.

Kyla Knight and Aliya Unseth led the team with 10 kills each. Unseth hit .381 while Knight posted a solid .261 percentage.

Adrianna DeMario led the squad with 33 assists. It was the sixth match this season with 30 or more helpers for DeMario.

The Bucs now get to hop right back on the horse as they return to the court tomorrow evening as they host Embry Riddle at Arizona Athletic Grounds at 6 p.m.