SPORTS
Page 6 April 8, 2022
Men’s volleyball falls in Heart tourney semifinals Mariana Figueroa Editor The men’s volleyball team might consider the Heart of America semifinals match on March 30 a night to forget. The Pirates lost to the William Penn University Statesman 3-1 in Oskaloosa, Iowa. While the first set started rough, everything turned around in the Pirates favor after Coach Mike Talamantes called a timeout at the 6-3 point. Following that, and thanks in part to five service errors by the Statesmen, Park closed out the first set 25-21, taking a 1-0 lead. However, this would be the only set won by the Pirates. William Penn came back strong after losing the first set. The Pirates didn’t hold the lead at all in the second set. At 23-18, the Pirates tried to rally, going on a 3-0 run. But the Statesmen showed their determination not to let another set slip away. They regained possession of the service and won 25-22 to draw the match level at 1-1. The Statesmen seemed to get into gear in the third set. The Statesmen found success and continuity on both sides of the court thanks to 18 kills from outside hit-
ter Ike Papes and 21 kills from right side Landon Krause. Krause also finished with the best attack percentage, confirming himself as the most effective of the match with 21 kills. William Penn’s hitting stats were brilliant in this set as they hit with a .500 percentage against the Pirates’.083. This time the set ended 25-20 for the Statesmen. The fourth and final set started 3-0 in favor of the Pirates, but it was just a sad illusion. Five points later, the set was tied 4-4, and soon after that William Penn managed the largest lead of the night – eight points. The protagonist of the goldblue comeback was Kraus’ serve that inflicted several aces on Park’s receiving line. The Statesmen closed the set earlier this time at 25-18. The timeouts and the numerous changes made by Talamates didn’t bring the success the Pirates needed. This confirmed the difficulties the Pirates faced all season when they found themselves away from the Breckon’s friendly walls. Five of the team’s six losses have been on the road this season. For Park, Joao Friedrich ended the game with 12 kills, and Daniel Isernhagen
PHOTO COURTESY/William Penn For the second time this season, the Park men’s volleyball team lost on the road against William Penn. with four individual blocks, matching his season-high. Despite being denied access to the conference finals, the Pirates were seeded seventh for the NAIA Men’s Volleyball
National Championship tournament. The team is headed to Des Moines, Iowa, to begin pool play on April 12.
Track and Field competes at Emporia State Jaylynn Tucker Reporter Park University Track and Field athletes performed this previous week on Friday and Saturday at Emporia University. All team athletes were able to participate in this two day meet. Shikayla Walker, a senior thrower, felt she performed well on both meet days, despite battling with a sprained MCL. She said it was good to compete, “finally getting back across the ring and taking full control.” Along with Walker’s great perfor-
PHOTO/Jaylynn Tucker The track and field teams are preparing for conference championships in May. mance Malike Calahoun, freshman jumper, also had a good performance at the meet. “I think I performed pretty good after finally staying consistent throughout each
jump approach and getting a legal jump,” Calhoun said. Allyson Anderson, junior sprinter and one of the team co-captains, participated in the 400-meter dash.
“This is my second race post-injury after being out for the bulk of the indoor season, so I am happy with the fact that I am continuing to progress in a decent peace safe and healthy manner,” Anderson, said. She said she went into this meet with certain goals in mind. “My initial goal was to win my heat and run a 59 or 60 second 400. I met my goal of winning my heat, but fell short on time,” Anderson said. The Park Track and Field athletes will next compete on Saturday, April 9 at Pittsburg State University.
