ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Park University avenged two come from behind victories by Missouri Baptist earlier this season to eliminate the Spartans from the AMC Tournament on Thursday, 3-0.
Missouri Baptist (33-3) did not look like the same team that showed-up in the previous meetings and the Pirates took full advantage. As a team, Park had an impressive .308 attack percentage as opposed to MBU's .037 for the match.
In the first set, Park dominated for much of play. The team broke out to a 12-8 lead and never looked back. Led by Raissa Herczfeld (5 kills, 1.000 attack percentage), Park held-on to the lead for the entire set, winning 25-19. This proved to be the closest set of the match.
As the second set commenced, MBU continued to struggle as Park gained momentum. As a team, Park hit .500 in the game as MBU middle blocker Madeline Nesbit was one of the few bright spots (3 kills, .333 attack percentage). The Pirates, however, were not to be denied as the team combined for 15 digs in the set in a 25-12 win.
Heading into set three, the Spartans seemed void of energy as Park jumped-out to an insurmountable 17-4 lead. Just when it seemed like Park would hand MBU its worst loss of the season, the team began an impressive comeback charge. The team from St. Louis put together a 14-7 run, recording six-straight points as Park was stuck at 24. The night belonged to Park, however as Park's Patricia Souza put away the final kill to complete the 3-0 win.
With the loss, MBU no longer controls its own fate in terms of the National Championship picture. Much will rely Tuesday's NAIA National Championship ratings, which will decide if the Spartans will advance to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round or will pack it in for the season.
In either case, it has been an outstanding, record-breaking season for the team in a year that many would have called a rebuilding season prior to the start of play. If Missouri Baptist is able to advance, the team will find our early next week. An announcement from the NAIA on the Opening Round matchups and Opening Round is expected on Tuesday.
