Park University men’s volleyball dominates Missouri Valley College in NAIA National Semifinal match
PARKVILLE, Mo. — The No. 1 ranked Park University men’s volleyball team has advanced to the 2026 NAIA Men’s Volleyball National Championship match after dominating Heart of America Athletic Conference rival No. 4 Missouri Valley College, 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-17) in the national semifinals at Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on May 1. Park is now 34-0 on the season. Twenty-three of Park’s victories this season have been three-set sweeps, and only three times have the Pirates been forced to a fifth set.
Park, which has won the NAIA men’s volleyball national title five times (2003, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2017), will play in the national championship for the first time since the 2017 season on Saturday (May 2) at 5 p.m. against the winner of tonight’s second semifinal (starts at 7:30 p.m.) featuring No. 2 The Master’s University (Calif., 24-1) vs. No. 3 St. Xavier University (Ill., 30-3). The Mustangs and Cougars met in last year’s championship match with The Master’s winning 3-1.
Prior to tonight, the Pirates and the Vikings met three times this season with Park defeating Missouri Valley each time — 3-1 in Marshall, Mo., on Feb. 14; 3-1 in Parkville, Mo., on March 14, and 3-2 in the championship match of the HAAC post-season tournament in Parkville on April 18.
In the first set against Missouri Valley, Park dominated from the start, taking a 9-4 lead before the Vikings called a timeout. The Pirates continued to show its power, pushing its advantage to 17-10 before another MVC timeout. Park then scored 8 of the final 12 points to close out the set. The Pirates were brilliant at the net, hitting .353 with 8 kills on 17 attacks with just two errors, while holding the Vikings to a -.077 hitting percentage, with 9 kills on 26 attacks, but 11 errors.
In the second set, Park grabbed a quick 4-0 lead and pushed the advantage to as many as seven points throughout the set, as MVC never got within five points the rest of the way. The Pirates put down 18 kills, hitting .448 in the set and committing just 5 errors on 29 attacks, while the Vikings hit .241 with 11 kills on 29 attacks and four errors.
In the third set, Park looked like it would easily take the set, taking a 7-4 early led, but Missouri Valley fought back to tie things at 10-10. But again, the Pirates went on a dominating run, scoring five straight for a 15-10 advantage. The Vikings couldn’t get closer than four, at 17-13, the rest of the way as the Pirates went on to close out the match. Park’s dominance showed in the set, putting down 14 kills with just a single hitting error on 25 attacks for a .520 hitting percentage, while MVC hit .207 with 11 kills on 29 attacks and 5 errors.
For the match, Park hit .451 with 40 kills on 71 attacks and just eight errors, while Missouri Valley was held to just .131 with 31 kills on 84 attacks, but 20 errors. Adrian Figueroa led Park with 15 kills, hitting .462 on 26 attacks and just three errors, while adding 5 total blocks. Murillo Silva had 10 kills and 5 total blocks. Umberto Caleca dished out 32 assists and Moises Ortiz had 7 total blocks.
For more information about the tournament, https://www.naia.org/sports/mvball/index.
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