Pride start Showdown in the Woods Invitational with sweep win over Park-Gilbert

ST. MARY OF THE WOODS, Ind. - Coming off of their first season-opening win since 2022, the Clarke University men's volleyball team improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2018 with a clean sweep victory over Park University Gilbert on Friday night in their first match of the Showdown in the Woods Invitational Tournament.

The Pride survived a tight opening set that went extra points but not by much to a 26-24 set win before earning a 25-15 second set win and closing out the match at a 25-17 third set with the first set seeing no lead larger than three points and the Buccaneers coming back from down 24-22 to force the extra points but back-to-back PUG attack errors gave Clarke that first set win.

After the first set, the CU offense took a significant step forward from an efficiency standpoint going from a .182 first set to a .500 second and .483 third set with 30 kills and just five errors on 51 total attacks over those final two sets for the team hitting percentage to finish at .369, a final team hitting percentage that the Pride only eclipsed three times in the previous four seasons combined.

Clarke's five primary attack options all hit for a .280 or better hitting percentage with outsides Trey Vescoso and Lachlan Donnelly finishing with double digit kills at 11 and 10 respectively with Vescoso's 11 setting a new career-high for the second-straight match to start the season while adding 10 digs for the sophomore's first career double-double, only committing four errors on 22 swings for a .318 hitting percentage.

The middle tandem of Tanner May and Dustin Kuner as well as right side Micah Dancy all hit for a percentage of .400 or better with May finishing at nine kills and two solo blocks for an 11-point night, Dancy went 8-for-10 with two errors for a .600 hitting percentage in just his second collegiate match, and Kuner combined for three blocks with his six digs on 11 swings for eight points and a .455 hitting percentage.

Following up strong 2026-opening individual performances, both setter Benjamin Reiser and libero Jason Romero had standout days again as Reiser answered his 42-assist match in five sets to finish the three-set match with 40 assists, which is a new three-set career-high for the junior while Romero improved on his digs total from match one, going from 13 to 15 in two less sets for a new career-high for the sophomore Miami native.

Clarke men's volleyball will play two more matches in St. Mary of the Woods, Ind. on Saturday when they play another neutral court matchup against Calumet College of St. Joseph at 3:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. CT before facing the hosts St. Mary of the Woods College at 6:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. CT.