The Park University Gilbert volleyball team got on the winning track this evening, defeating Justice University 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-18) at Justice University in Chandler, Ariz. With the win, the Bucs move to 1-3 on the season as they emerge triumphant in the first of seven matches in six days. The Lions drop to 0-6.
All three sets were played closely early, before the Bucs would go on a run in the middle to late stages of the match to close things out.
Park trailed 4-1 early in the first before going on its own 4-1 run to tie the match at 5-all. The match stayed tight until 9-9 when the Bucs broke the match open with a 5-0 run and not look back winning the set by six.
The second set looked eerily similar to the first as both teams battled back and forth to 13-all. Park would then utilize a 5-1 run to extend the lead to four and then played solid down the stretch to win the set by the same margin.
Set three saw Park give time to many of its backup players and the set see-sawed back and forth to 9-9. The Bucs again used a 3-0 run to take a lead they would not relinquish and when the Lions cut the lead to one, they finished the match with a 6-0 run to close things out.
Park Gilbert head coach Pisila Tukia wanted to play as much of her roster tonight as she could and she did it, playing 21 players over the three sets. With this dispersion of playing time, the numbers for the Bucs were varied and spread out but there was a record tied this evening.
The Buccaneers saw youth and veteran leadership lead the way as freshman Naiya Moala and senior Kyla Knight each had 5 kills. Moala hit .286 for the game.
The middle pair of junior Leila Lee and Aliya Unseth each had four kills, one error on seven attempts to hit .429. Unseth tied the school record for solo blocks in a match with three. She is the first Buc to have three blocks in a match since Makenna Busse against Providence Christian in 2021.
Adrianna DeMario made her Park indoor debut with 19 assists. She also led the team with seven digs and 2 aces (tied with Keep Williams).
Park Gilbert returns to the court tomorrow (Wednesday) night as they host former conference foe Simpson at Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz., starting at 6 p.m. The Buccaneers lead the all-time series 4-2, but the Red Hawks have won the last two meetings two years ago.
