Park University’s volleyball program is in a familiar spot this week: Competing for an NAIA national championship.
This time around, it’s the men’s team, ranked No. 4 and 27-1 after a tournament win on Thursday. The national semifinal is to be played Friday in Des Moines, Iowa.
In 12 years as Park’s coach, Mike Talamantes has built a budding dynasty among the men’s, women’s and beach volleyball squads.
The southern California native has coached the Pirates to five national championships — three in men’s and two in women’s. There was even one stretch when the two teams won a title every other year or more.
The Park women last won a title in 2018. Now, Park is trying for its first men’s national championship since 2017.
“Am I ever happy at the end of the season when we don’t win it? Absolutely not,” said Talamantes this week in Des Moines. “But I don’t want to take away anything from those other teams because these athletes at this place give me everything they have.”
“I’m never disappointed in them at the end,” he said.
The volleyball world became familiar with Talamantes quickly: his first season at Park he was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association and NAIA tournament Coach of the Year. The Pirates won their first men’s volleyball national title that year, too, in 2012.
But those plaudits only go so far with Talamantes.
“Individual awards are nice,” he said. “But the thing is, the team comes together every year to battle for a championship. And we always come together for three goals: Win conference, win the tournament championship and then give ourselves a chance to win a national championship.”
Park’s volleyball rosters through the years have often resembled a United Nations roll call. This spring, for instance, the men’s team includes players from eight different countries: the U.S., Brazil, Serbia, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Argentina and Ghana.
Dan Isernhagen, a junior from Brazil, said all his teammates have something in common: “We all are away from our families and away from people that we love, so I think we all have that fight.”
Isernhagen said Talamantes then blends them into a formidable team.
“Coach definitely helped us. We’ve shaped into what he wants us to do, but we’re the ones that are playing, right?” he said. “If we see something that we all do as a group, we’ll be able to win all the matches.”
In only its fifth year as a team sport at Park, the Pirates’ beach volleyball squad is 16-1, with their only loss against Nebraska.
Since there are so few NAIA schools with beach programs, the Pirates sometimes venture out to play Division-1 teams like the Cornhuskers.
Renowned coaches like that program’s John Cook have taken notice.
“The fact that he does all these hats at Park and they’re very successful — Park University is getting their money’s worth with him,” said Cook before the season.
“I’ve gone and told him a couple times: ‘You do a really good job,’” he said. “Some of these club coaches are just maniacs and all over the place. He’s just really calm. He coaches, and his teams are really well-trained.”
Given Talamantes’ success — and his love for beach volleyball — it’s natural to wonder if there’s another job out there attractive enough to lure him back to his roots.
Talamantes admits there were some tempting offers early on, but he likes what he’s established in Parkville.
“For the last two years, we put a team in the national tournament for beach volleyball, women’s indoor, and men’s indoor, so we’re just getting better,” said Talamantes. “I like how we’re building the program out.”
After this week’s matches in Des Moines, it’ll be a quick turnaround to prepare for the NAIA National Invitational Tournament. Park is one of six teams invited.
That’ll take place April 20 through April 22, in Panama City, Florida — on the beach of course.
