The Park University Gilbert volleyball team upped their conference winning streak to 16 games with a 3-1 (29-27, 27-25, 10-25, 25-18) win over Benedictine Mesa this evening at the Arizona Region Volleyball Facility.
"I'm happy to walk away with a win," said Buccaneers head coach Clay Webb. "Benedictine always rises to the occasion when they play us and tonight was no different. It is never easy against them."
The Bucs pulled out the victory despite Benedictine having more kills, fewer errirs and a higher attack percentage for the match. Park Gilbert had more aces and fewer service errors on the night.
The first two sets were so close and could have gone to either team. The Buccaneers (5-3, 4-0 Cal Pac) narrowly pulled out win in both sets with some clutch serving down the stretch. The Buccaneers ended both sets with service aces, The second set was as even as it could get, with both teams having the same number of kills, errors and total attacks (13-8-36). These sets were the sixth and seventh times in the history of this rivalry these teams needed more than 25 points to settle the winner of a set.
The third set was all Benedictine. They held the Bucs to only 10 points which is their lowest point total in a losing set in their history. The Redhawks did not committ an error in the frame and had 10 kills, while the Bucs committed 10 errors and only had seven kills.
The Bucs righted the ship in the fourth stanza, forcing the Redhaws to hit to a negative percentage and easily winning rhe set 25-18.
Amanda Jonovich led the Bucs in kills again with 18 on the evening and she hit .271. She had two aces and those two aces were timely as they came on the last two points of the second set. She also had nine digs and an block assists. Hattie Patton led the way on the defensive end with 24 digs, a couple of which she contorted her body like a pretzel to make a stab and keep a point alive.Elizabeth Clemit had eight kills and hit .263. Makenna Busse made her debut this season in the match having sat out the season to this point with an ankle injury. In limited time, she posted a kill and had three blocks.
Up next for the Bucs, they travel to Prescott, Ariz., to take on Embry Riddle in a battle for first place in the Cal Pac Arizona Diviision. The will take place on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 2 p.m.
