PARKVILLE, Mo. – Ryan Stafford had 18 kills and Henry Uribe added 12, as Park University capped a perfect MAMVIC West season on Senior Night with a 3-0 (30-25, 30-25, 31-29) shut-out of Graceland University Tuesday at Breckon Sports Center.
Park (23-1, 9-0 MAMVIC West) also had 42 assists from J.P. da Silva in his last regular-season game as a Pirate. For Graceland, the match was the sixth loss in conference play, dropping the Jackets to 2-15 on the year.
The Pirates grabbed a quick lead in game one, going up 4-1 and later 11-5 on a Stafford ace, but Graceland used a 9-4 run to get within one, 15-14.
Uribe notched a kill to stop the run at 16-14, and after Graceland got within three late, Park forced an error to make it 27-23 and held on for the 30-25 win.
Lance Pulliam’s kill made it 10-7 in game two after Graceland had an early two-point lead, and after Graceland went on a run to cut Park’s lead to three from five, Uribe pushed it back to a five-point game with a kill that made it 17-12. Uribe would later ace the Yellow Jackets to make it 28-22, and again Park had to hold on to win the game, 30-25.
In game three, GU was ahead early, 12-9, before Park managed to tie it late at 21-21 and later 22-22 on a Stafford kill.
Uribe got a kill off of the face of a defender to make it 27-25 late in the game, but Graceland scored the next three points to make it 28-27, two points from extending the match to a fourth game.
Down 29-28, Park got a kill from Pulliam to tie it at 29, and after an error made it 30-29 in favor of the Pirates, Pulliam combined with Dragomir Katanic to close the game and match with a 31-29 victory.
Park now waits to learn its next opponent in the MAMVIC tournament, which begins April 4 at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Mo.
