CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa [BOX SCORE] - Park (Mo.) Pirates stayed perfect and made a firm opening statement in NAIA Men’s Volleyball Championship pool play, sweeping Westcliff (Calif.) Warriors 25-21, 25-23, 25-18 on April 28 at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

The clearest separator was hitting. Westcliff finished with 34 kills but committed 27 attack errors on 108 attempts, producing a .065 team hitting percentage and never topping .103 in any set. Park also totaled 34 kills, yet paired them with just 16 errors on 95 swings for a .189 clip, and its best stretch came late: after hitting .152 in the first set and .108 in the second, Park surged to .360 in the third behind clean execution and fewer mistakes (11 kills, only two errors on 25 attempts).

Gabriel Pizza carried a heavy workload with 10 kills. Rodolfo Biegelmeyer added nine kills while also taking on a major playmaking role with five assists. Tom Dempsey matched Biegelmeyer with nine kills. Nikos Kalagasidis was efficient in limited attempts, going 3-for-3 with 15 assists and an ace.

Park’s offense was driven by Adrian Figueroa, who delivered a match-high 16 kills on 33 swings while hitting .364, adding nine digs and a block to cap a complete performance. Murillo Silva chipped in eight kills, and Park received valuable balance from Mihailo Ivanovic and Moises Ortiz, who combined for five kills and helped reinforce the block. Setter Jovan Nikolic orchestrated the sweep with 26 assists and an ace, while Veljko Stojic made his impact felt from the service line with three aces as Park finished with six service aces overall.

At the net, Park’s advantage showed up in the cumulative blocking numbers, posting 22 total blocks (two solo, 20 assisted) to Westcliff’s 14 (1 solo, 13 assisted). 

Park will have a day off before playing its second pool play match on Friday, April 30, at 7 p.m. CT. Westcliff (Calif.) will return to the court on Wednesday, April 29, at 7 p.m. CT. Both teams will face off against OUAZ (Ariz.).