Women's Volleyball Falls on the Road to Park

Parkville, Mo., (Oct. 29, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College women's volleyball team traveled to Parkville, Mo., for a Tuesday evening Heart of America Athletic Conference contest with Park (Mo.).  The Vikings fell by scores of 14-25, 14-25, 21-25.

The contest started with Park jumping out to an early lead in the first game, through a 5-1 score.  Junior Outside Hitter Blanca Arciniega Palma (El Paso, Texas) and Junior Middle Hitter Kinga Ramonowicz (Krepiec, Poland) each had one kill to pull the team into a 6-4 deficit.  The Vikings continued to work back into the game as Ramonowicz added one more kill to shrink the gap down to 9-8.  The Pirates followed with a run, winning nine of the next ten points to sit on top, 19-10.  Senior Middle Hitter Emma Schulte (Marshall, Mo.) and Palma put down one kill each in the game, but Park won the opener, 25-14.

The two teams started the second game by trading points through a 6-6 score.  Palma finished off three kills and Senior Outside Hitter Ksenija Simun (Kotor, Montenegro) added one kill in the opening stretch.  Park put together another run, this time taking 12 of 13 points to open up an 18-7 advantage.  Junior Middle Hitter Patrysia Uzoma (Moscow, Russia) ended the drought for MVC with a kill, followed by another kill from Ramonowicz and an ace from Senior Libero Momoko Yokoyama (Tokyo, Japan).  Both Ramonowicz and Simun landed late kills, as the Pirates won the game, 25-14.

Needing a win in the third game, Missouri Valley fell behind early, by a 7-3 score.  Simun came through with one kill, followed later by two-straight kills from Ramonowicz.  Simun added another kill as MVC moved in front, 10-9.  The two teams traded the next several points, while Senior Middle Hitter Alanah Best (Lima, Ohio) landed a kill, then teamed up with Simun on a block.  Junior Setter Ana Santos (Curitiba, Brazil) put down an ace, and the Vikings stayed on top, 16-13.  Park answered, and won six of the next seven points to claim a 19-17 lead.  The Vikings used two kills from Ramonowicz and one kill from Best to tie the score at 20-20.  Park responded with four-straight points to hold match-point, and eventually won by a score of 25-21 to sweep the match.

Ramonowicz led with nine kills on a .438 hitting percentage.  Simun had eight kills.  Santos totaled 10 assists and five digs, and Yokoyama led with 13 digs.  Missouri Valley had two aces as a team.

Missouri Valley falls to 14-14 overall and 6-9 in the Heart.  Park improves to 19-9 on the season and 9-5 in the conference.

Up next, the Viking women's volleyball team returns for a home match, hosting Culver-Stockton (Mo.), for Senior Day, Saturday at 2 p.m., inside the Burns Athletic Complex.

Box Score-Click Here 

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.