Haskell indian nations university volleyball players Samantha Logg, left, and Takara Bighorse hit the floor in an attempt to make a save. The Indians fell to Park University, 3-0, on Tuesday at Coffin Complex.

It’s a word synonymous with sports and something the Haskell Indian Nations University volleyball squad had trouble with in a loss to Park (Parkville, Mo.) on Tuesday at Coffin Complex: momentum.

“A lot of it has to do with our momentum because we don’t know how to use it yet,” Haskell coach Melissa Peterson said after her squad was swept, 30-26, 30-20, 30-20. “Even on hitting we don’t know how to use our momentum with our bodies. When we’d score points, we don’t know how to use that yet and use the momentum to keep the intensity going.”

The Indians had their opportunities in the early going to maintain the momentum but ended up hitting a wall that carried over to the next two games.

“The first game went really well, and we came out fresh,and everybody came out aggressive,” Peterson said. “But after a while, I don’t know what happened. We have a little hump that we just can’t get over, and after that first game that’s what it looked like.”

HINU freshman Takara Bighorse said it was not just maintaining the momentum that the squad was struggling with, but also regaining it once it had been lost.

“Usually it starts when we make a mistake and don’t come back from it as best as we should,” Bighorse said. “We need to pull back better when we make those mistakes. We just need to forget about it and just start over again because it’s a new serve, and we just have to try not to make any mistakes on the next point.”

The Pirates didn’t exactly overpower the Indians by any means. Park had only a 41-34 advantage, in kills, and both teams finished with six blocks.

“The only thing that didn’t really help us was our service errors,” Bighorse said. “We made the most service errors this game than any other games that we’ve had. That’s what kind of gave us the disadvantage.”

Service errors definitely played a factor in the first game when HINU missed on seven serves.

Park collected 10 aces for the match but had issues of its own in the final two games.

“The last two games, Park missed a couple of serves, and that’s what really helped keep us in the game,” said Peterson, whose squad could collect only three aces the entire match. “But it’s just been a lot of little errors and a few discipline errors that we make ourselves.

“It’s not so much of the other team, but more of where we’re supposed to be at on the court that we’re still working on.”