The Park University Gilbert volleyball team, who clinched a playoff spot with a 3-1 win over Pacific Union last night, fell for the first time in program history to UC Merced 3-1 tonight in Merced, Calif. The Bucs fall to 12-11 overall and 10-7 in conference play. This is the first win in school history for UC Merced against the Bucs.

In the first set the Bucs got off to a solid start with a 25-20 win. Railey Druxman led the set with five kills, while Jade Laikona had four and Maggie Scranton three. The Bucs played a clean set with 17 overall kills and only three errors to hit .452. UC Merced did not play poorly in the set putting away 13 kills themselves with only five errors.

But as has been the case a few times this season, the Bucs seemingly lose focus in a set after playing extremely well and the second set was exhibit A for this as the Bucs lost 25-11. After 17 kills in set one, the Bucs only managed six in this frame with seven errors.

The Bucs put up attack numbers in the third set which should have won them the set, but four service errors, two bad sets and a ball handling error undid the good the Bucs attack had done as the Bucs fell 25-23.

The fourth set saw UC Merced jump out ahead early and just maintained a two to three point advantage throughout the set before closing it out with a five-point 25-20 win at the end.

Offensively, Druxman led the way with 17 kills and 10 digs for her sixth double-double on the season. The 17 kills ties for the fourth-most in her career.  Scranton had her fourth double digit kill match of the season with 10 kills. Daniella Miranda-Johnson sets a career high for assists with 42. This is her first 40-assist game and is ties for the ninth most assists in the match in school history. This was the first 40 assist match since October of 2021.    

The Bucs finish off this three-match road trip against Simpson tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. in Redding, Calif. The Red Hawks beat the Bucs for the first time in five sets back in late September in Mesa, Ariz.