Park battled back after dropping the first set, but a crushing loss in the third doomed the host Wolfpack in non-conference boys volleyball Thursday.

Visiting St. Paul Central took a 25-19, 21-25, 25-23 and 25-12 decision from Park in the final match of the regular season.

Park looked strong in taking the second set and the third was a marathon grind, with the two teams tied at 16, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23-all before the visitors won the final two points.

That effectively sucked the life out of the Wolfpack and the fourth set was anti-climactic.

“The loss of the third is what set the tone for the fourth and we just couldn’t dig out of the emotion,” said Park head coach Robert Lozinski-McLean. “I told them, No. 1, I’m not upset with that loss. At the end of the day I think we’re going to see them again in sections and there were some things that we weren’t all that ready for. I think they had some tricks up their sleeve that we just didn’t know about. But guess what, we’re going to learn from it and we’re probably going to see them again and we’re going to be ready for it.

“And I told them there’s nothing to hang their heads about,” Lozinski-McLean continued. “We had moments when we had some pretty good volleyball on our side of the net. It was just unfortunate we just couldn’t dig deep and we just lost a little bit of our grit toward the end.”

Park finished the regular season with a 14-13 overall record. St. Paul Central, a team the Wolfpack could face again in section play, improved to 10-6.

Mounds View 3, Park 0

Visiting Park fell in three games to Suburban East Conference leading Mounds View Tuesday, losing 25-16, 25-10 and 25-16.

The Wolfpack finished fourth in the SEC with a 5-3 record. Mounds View went 9-0 in the conference.