Volleyball continues winning streak

The Park University Women’s Volleyball team hasn’t seen a loss in the Fall 2014 season and with two conference opening wins, they are proving themselves a force to be reckoned with.

A home game Sept. 20 was the teams’ latest victory in front of a crowd of about 50 students, family, alumni and Park University interim President David Fowler.

The students showed their enthusiasm by cheering on Wendy Romero, a junior outside hitter, with chants such as “Wendy, give her a facial” and “Wendy take them to Neverland”.

Romero, who is from Cojedes, San Carlos, Venezuela, was named the NAIA Volleyball National Player of the Week last week because of her performances from Sept. 8-14.

The team was also the feature collegiate team Sept. 18 on “High School Gameday”, a production of Sideline Sports Talk. The episode aired at www.sidelinesportstalkkc.com.

Head Coach Mike Talamantes said he is optimistic for the team’s future.

“We are excited to be back at home,” Talamantes said. “We were 35-7 last year and we had a few 10 and 11 winning streaks but I don’t know if we have ever had one this long. It’s actually 17 straight wins because they won their last game last year. We had a great year last year and we have a lot of experience coming back. We returned four starters and had two spring transfers, so we had six players who played together.”

Talamantes said the team’s strength is in its overall design.

“Plus, we have great depth,” he said. “We’ve got a great chemistry. It’s a good group so far with three seniors on the team and all are captains. They are putting their mark on the team as leaders. I attribute a lot of our successes to our chemistry and our leadership core. We came into the preseason ready to go and we are in the flat out the best shape we have ever been in. We have a strength and conditioning program but a lot of the girls did extra, from a cardio standpoint, and a couple of their girls even changed their diet. The next tournament will be a great test for us.”

Talamantes has been at Park for four consecutive seasons and led the girls last year for the first time in Park’s History into the NAIA Top 25.

The women will return to the court today at the MNU Invitational in Olathe against No. 19 Evangel University and Texas Wesleyan University at MNU’s Bell Family Arena. For more information, visit www.parkathletics.com for live coverage.