The Park University Gilbert men's volleyball team picked up its first conference win in three years with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-18, 20-25, 25-18) victory over Soka University in Aliso Viejo, Calif., this evening. The win ups the Buccaneers record to 4-6 overall and 1-1 in GSAC play.

The last time Park Gilbert won a conference match was on March 3, 2023 when the Bucs defeated Pacific Union 3-2 at Arizona Athletic Grounds in a California Pacific Conference match. The win snaps a 30-match conference losing streak for the Buccaneers.

The Buccaneers got off to a strong start winning the first two set handily. In set one, the Bucs used a 7-1 run early in the frame to take a 12-5 lead and cruise to a first set 25-17 win. The Bucs hit .318 for the set with 13 kills.

Set two Soka took an 11-7 lead early in the stanza before another 7-1 Bucs run to take a 15-12 advantage. The Bucs would not trail again and finished winning 10 of the last 16 points to close out the set. The Bucs posted 14 kills and hit .321.

The third set was a see-saw battle where both teams held the lead at different points. Then at 18-all, the Lions went on a 7-2 run to take set three. The Bucs hitting percentage dropped exponentially in the set to .079 with 11 kills and eight attack errors after hitting over .300 in the first two sets.

In the final frame, down by one, an early 6-1 run put the Bucs up by four 8-4. They would never relinquish the lead and would slowly increase the margin to the final seven-point advantage to close things out.  The Bucs posted another 14 kills and hit .357

For the match, Park had 52 kills and hit .250 to only 31 kills and an .027 percentage for Soka.

Individually, Sophomores Dominic Smith and Azzlyn Potts led the way with 13 and 11 kills respectively. Potts hit .333 and Smith .229. Senior Damon Leavitt had a season high 39 assists and freshman libero Andrew Kennedy had a career high 14 digs.

Up next, the Bucs go for two in a row tomorrow evening in Riverside, Calif., as they take on La Sierra University. The match is slated to start at 9:10 p.m. Arizona time.  This will be the first meeting between the two schools in men's volleyball as this is La Sierra's first year with a men's volleyball program.