The Park University Gilbert men's volleyball team opened its season with four matches in one day at the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods Tournament in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind. The Bucs went 2-2 on the day beating Goshen and Rockford while losing to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods and Clarke. With the two wins the Bucs have already equaled their win total from last season.

Here are the game summaries.

Match 1 – Park Gilbert 3, Goshen 2 (25-22, 20-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-12)

Sophomores Dominic Smith and Azzyln Potts tied and broke their career highs for kills in the Bucs five-set thriller to open the season.

This was the first time Park-Gilbert has won its opening match of the season in the programs seven-year history. This was the second five-set match the Bucs have played in a season opener. The last one was the first match in program history against the No. 1 team in the country at the time in Benedictine Mesa.

The two teams split every set with the Bucs taking the odd numbered sets and Goshen the even. The Bucs had more kills in every set but the fourth where they hit to a negative percentage.

The outside hitting duo of Smith and Potts were impressive. Smith tied his career high with 22 kills, matching his total last season at Soka.  Potts beat his previous career high of 13 with 17 kills while also hitting .387.

Senior transfer setter Damon Leavitt had 43 assists which is the highest total for a Park setter in their debut. He also added three kills and hit .300.

Junior libero Zac York had 16 digs which is two off of his career high.

Freshman Brian Wells made his collegiate debut with six kills and hit .417.

Match 2 – Park Gilbert 3, Rockford 2 (25-15, 21-25, 25-20, 26-28, 15-10)

More drama ensued in match number 2 as the Buccaneers made it back-to-back five set wins beating NCAA Division III Rockford. Playing seven matches in three days allows Bucs head coach Vince Zanzucchi to get time for his freshman who need experience playing college competition.

Zanzucchi gave three freshman their collegiate indoctrination in this match as opposite Robert Flynt, setter Brandon Leyva and outside hitter Matt Kendler got their first taste of collegiate volleyball.  

Last year's top freshman Smith led the way again with 17 kills and hitting .224. Both Kendler and Wells had eight kills. And Wells also led the team with 11 digs. Leyva had 29 assists.

This match was as close as a match could be as a match could be as both teams finished with 50 kills. The difference in the match was Rockford had 34 attack errors to only 23 for Park. Those errors were a product of the Bucs having 14 blocks, led by junior middle blocker Jonah Baich who had three solo rejections and Flynt who had two solo and two assisted blocks.

Match 3 – Saint Mary-of-the-Woods 3, Park Gilbert 0 (16-25, 18-25, 13-25)

Match number three on the day saw Zanzucchi continue to give his freshman charges opportunities to get experience. This time against tournament host Saint Mary-of-the-Woods,

Smith and Baich did not play in this match and Potts only saw limited action in two sets.

Freshman Riley Terwilliger saw his first action of the season and led the team with seven kills. Wells added six kills.

Leavitt posted 18 assists.

Park only notched 25 kills but made 20 errors to hit .060 for the match,

Match 4 – Clarke 3, Park Gilbert 0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-17)

Zanzucchi continued to give his new charges their opportunity to get experience. For the second consecutive match, Smith did not play along with Potts, Wells and Leavitt.

Kendler and Terwilliger saw the bulk of the action and responded with 11 and nine kills respectively. Terwilliger also had two block assists.

Leyva assisted on 22 kills and junior Jeff Agcaoili led the team with 10 digs.

Up Next

The Bucs return to the floor for two more matches tomorrow as they take on former Cal Pac foe Simpson at 8 a.m. Arizona time before finishing the tournament against Rochester Christian at 11 a.m.