The Park University Gilbert women's volleyball team continued its hot streak winning its seventh straight match in another five-set thriller with Benedictine Mesa at the Arizona Region Volleyball Center in Chandler, Ariz., 3-2 (30-28, 20-25, 25-21, 14-25, 15-11). On the men's side, the Buccaneers challenged one of the better teams in the country in a couple of sets, but ultimately fell to No. 2 Benedictine Mesa in four sets 3-1 (9-25, 19-25, 25-21, 13-25).
The women were up first today and jumped out early, leading by as many as seven, 10-3. The Redhawks, who were celebrating their seniors, were not going to go quietly into that sweet night. BenU (7-4, 7-3 Cal Pac) not only worked its way back to a tie at 15-all, it took the lead and had a 23-19 advantage. The Buccaneers came out of a timeout and won five of the next six points to knot the set at 24. Then the back and forth began with the Buccaneers finally getting the set at 30-28.
For the Buccaneers (7-1, 7-1 Cal Pac), even numbered sets were not their favorites on this day. They got down big in the second and fourth sets. In the second frame, they worked the score back to respectability, but were never really in it. In the penultimate set, the Bucs looked like a junior varsity squad and drew the ire of head coach Clay Webb and his coaching staff at the conclusion of the set. In both the third and fifth sets, Webb's charges answered the call of their leader and handled their business, winning the third set 25-21 and the deciding stanza 15-11.
"We battled through adversity and our own self-inflected wounds," said Webb. "But at the end of the day we took care of business and did what we needed to do to walk away with a win."
The win keeps the women in sole passion of second place in the Cal Pac behind Saint Katherine who they are scheduled to play on Friday, but right now those games are up in the air as the Firebirds may decide to not travel and forfeit those contests due to concerns about COVID-19 ahead of postseason play. If they do play on Friday, Webb knows they need to clean up the errors to have success against a good Saint Katherine squad.
"We are just trying to control our side of the court," said Webb. "We have big swings on the sides at the pins and in the middle. We are challenging the girls to not be afraid to make an error. Swing at the ball and as we continue to do that, we are going to find success. We are still so young and learning the system, so the story is not over yet for this group."
On the men's side, to say Park Gilbert came out flat would be akin to saying Mount Everest is tall. The No. 2 Redhawks rolled the Buccaneers in set one 25-9. This was only the second set in Buccaneers history where they failed to reach double digits in point within a regulation set. The other was against Division I Grand Canyon last year.
Undaunted, Park Gilbert (0-6, 0-6 Cal Pac) did not hang its head after such a disappointing start. They came back in set two and were much more competitive losing the second stanza 25-19. They took the momentum of the second set a parlayed it into a third set triumph, winning the frame 25-21. It was only the second set lost by the Redhawks in conference play and snapped a 17-set consecutive win streak for the Redhawks.
But there is a reason, Benedictine-Mesa (12-0, 8-0 Cal Pac) is ranked second in the nation in the NAIA, the 2019 national champions responded in the fourth set to reestablish their dominance and won going away 25-13.
"This team is starting to find themselves as far as their identity since we left for UC-Merced," said Webb. "They went out and competed against a high ranked opponent and to come out and take a set off the No. 2 ranked team in the country is huge. We are definitely capable to doing that, but we have to execute on our side of the net."
Challenging top teams is nothing new for the Bucs. Last year, when Benedictine was ranked No. 1, the Bucs took the Redhawks to five sets. This year, the Buccaneers did not get across the threshold for a win, but served notice they are on the horizon for top teams to be wary of in future years.
Up next for the Buccaneer men is Saint Katherine tomorrow for a double header starting at 11 a.m. at the Arizona Region Volleyball Center. The Bucs were the designated visiting team today as both the Redhawks and Bucs use the same venue. Tomorrow, they will be a home team looking to garner its first win on the season. The Buccaneers swept the Firebirds 3-0 in their only match last season.
