Statesmen Downed by #1 Grand View in Three Sets
Oskaloosa—William Penn men’s volleyball took to its home court to take on the #1 ranked Grand View Vikings.
The Statesmen (1-2, 0-3 Heart), hung with the top-ranked program in the nation in the first and the third but unfortunately the Vikings had too much firepower as they took the match in straight sets by the scores of 25-20, 25-8, and 25-16.
WPU was outhit -.174-.323 in the setback.
The navy and gold went kill-for-kill with the Vikings as they traded blows early. CJ Rettig (Fr., Sierra Madre, Calif., Wellness and Recreation) put one down to even the score at 7-7 early in the set. The visitors looked like they were ready to pull away as they built a 16-12 lead but William Penn battled back, scoring four straight points to tie it back up at 16-16. A 7-1 run by GVU doomed the Statesmen as the deficit was too much to erase as they dropped the opening set 25-20.
Set two was all Vikings as they put together their best set of the night as they hit .526 while holding WPU to a -.333 clip.
The Statesmen rebounded from a tough second by coming back and giving the Vikings a tough test. After falling behind 5-3, WPU countered with four straight points that included a kill courtesy of Eli Herro (Fr., Dousman, Wis., Business Management) and another capped off by Rettig to give them a 7-5 lead. Grand View took a 12-10 lead before a service error got William Penn within a point. However, it would be the closest they would get as GVU rallied off eight straight points, essentially ending William Penn’s hope as they closed out the match by the score of 25-18.
Ike Papes (Fr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management), Herro and Rettig all had three kills in the setback while Matt Helmick (Fr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) and Connor Muff (So., Kenosha, Wis., Business Management) split the setting duties as they combined for nine assists.
Defensively, Carlos Garcia (Fr., Laredo, Texas, Biology) led the charge with four digs and Pedro Maciel (Fr., Belo Horizante, Brazil, Psychology) had three.
“Tonight was a learning point for our program,” Head Coach Luke Bentley said. “We were able to play the #1 team in the country and see what it takes. I think we found out that we can compete with them but we are still a long way from that.”
Next Up: William Penn will take on Viterbo on Friday at 5 pm in the Penn Activity Center.
