Park women’s volleyball upsets No. 1 Jamestown to advance to NAIA championship match
PARKVILLE, Mo. — At the NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Championship, No. 4 ranked Park University has advanced to the NAIA national championship as the Pirates overwhelmed No. 1 and previously undefeated University of Jamestown (N.D.) in the national semifinals at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. The Pirates topped the Jimmies, 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-11).
Park is now 34-2 on the season while Jamestown ends the year at 35-1. The Pirates are now riding a 31-match winning streak heading into the national finals. Park started the year with three wins, but lost back-to-back matches to then No. 3 (now No. 10) Midland University (Neb.) and then No. 9 (now No. 2) Viterbo University (Wis.) in early September. Since then, Park has not lost a match and has only dropped four sets during the streak. The Pirates have swept 18 of their last 21 matches, including tonight. The Pirates are seeking the third national title in school history, having won the championship in 2014 (with a perfect 40-0 record) and 2018.
The Pirates will play the winner of tonight’s late semifinal featuring No. 3 Missouri Baptist University Spartans (31-2) vs. No. 7 Marian University (Ind.) Knights (35-2) in the championship match, which is slated for a 7 p.m. start tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 4). The national championship match will air via stream on ESPN3.
In set one against Jamestown, Park dominated the set, hitting .271 to Jamestown’s .042. The Pirates led from the start, jumping out to a 6-1 lead. Park led by as many as 13 at 20-7 before closing out the set.
In set two, while the score was closer, Park hit even better at .293 and held the Jimmies to .136. The set was tied at 6-6 when Park when on an 8-4 run for a 14-10 lead. Jamestown clawed back to take an 18-17 advantage, but Park scored seven of the final 12 points to win the set.
Set three was all Park. The Pirates scored the first four points and never looked back as Park hit .375 in the set while holding Jamestown to a negative-.086.
For the match, Park hit .306 while keeping Jamestown at bay with a .039 percentage. Nada Meawad recorded 24 kills and 16 digs to lead Park and Debora Bernardi added 11 kills. Vera Beltrame recorded 39 assists for the Pirates. Noura Meawad had 14 digs and Giovanna Bello added 11 more.
For more information about the national tournament, visit https://www.naia.org/sports/wvball/index.
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