Vikings Fall In First Pool Play Match At Nationals

Women’s Volleyball | Tue, Nov. 30, 2021

Sioux City, IA – The Grand View women’s volleyball team began pool play for the 2021 NAIA National Championship on Tuesday from the Tyson Event Center but fell to No. 4 Park University in its opening match in four sets with scores of 22-25, 25-21, 26-28, 18-25.

Set 1: Grand View University 22 l Park University 25

Grand View found itself down in the first set as it was tough to get anything going early on and faced a 3-9 deficit. The Vikings were able to find a spark a little later with a 4-0 scoring run, featuring kills by Lauren Bair (SR/Braddyville, IA), Alexa Aldrich-Ingram (SR/Iowa City, IA) and Brooke Flater (JR/Grundy Center, IA), to make the score 10-14. Grand View slowly kept chipping away at the Park lead and cut it down to three at 19-22 following three-straight points, which forced a timeout by the Pirates. The set comeback fell just short, however, as Park ultimately won the set.

Set 2: Grand View University 25 l Park University 21

In the second set, the Vikings and Pirates started out by going back-and-forth to a 10-10 draw. From there, Park gained the advantage scoring seven of the next nine points making the score 12-17. After a Grand View timeout, the Vikings focused in and were able to draw back even at 19-19 with Bair registering five kills over that stretch. Following another Vikings timeout, Grand View rallied off a 5-0 run to go up 24-19 and Bair sealed the set a few points later with another kill to even the match at one set apiece.

Set 3: Grand View University 26 l Park University 28

Set three saw the two squads jump out to another competitive battle, but Grand View was able to grab a one-point lead at the 11-10 mark behind a 4-0 scoring streak. During the run which gave the Vikings the slim lead Bair stayed red hot scoring three consecutive kills. The momentum would then shift over to Park over the next few points with the Pirates jumping out in front 16-22. The Vikings wouldn’t go away easy though as they mounted a comeback scoring five straight points to reclaim a one-point advantage at 25-24. From there the Vikings offense stalled and Park took four out of the last five points to win the set.

Set 4: Grand View University 18 l Park University 25

With their backs against the walls, the Vikings claimed a 7-6 lead to open the fourth set. That would unfortunately be the last lead Grand View would see as Park went ahead 7-10 following a 4-0 scoring streak….