Statesmen Add to History Book with First Heart ‘W’
William Penn University Athletics
Lamoni, Iowa—The Statesmen made history on Monday night as they earned their first Heart of America Athletic Conference victory in program history over Graceland.
William Penn (3-14, 1-8 Heart) defeated the Yellowjackets (7-7, 5-3 Heart) in four sets by the score of 25-16, 25-23, 16-25, and 25-19.
In the first set, WPU did not get off to the start they were hoping as they fell behind 6-3 early on the opponents home floor but managed to go on a 10-2 run just moments later to take a commanding 13-8 lead. Graceland cut the deficit to three, 17-14, but William Penn stormed back, scoring five straight points to give them a 22-14 lead before putting them away on a Shawn Mason (So., Orlando, Fla., Sociology) kill.
The second set was a back-and-forth battle that featured 11 ties. The set was up for grabs late as the squads were tied at 23-23 before the navy and gold ceased the opportunity, getting a big kill from Ike Papes (Fr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) and then a Graceland attack error to end the set and take a 2-0 lead.
Graceland found its groove in the third set as they jumped out to a 20-11 lead and not looking back to take the set victory, 25-16, as they attempted to dig themselves out of a 2-0 hole.
Both teams had their runs in set four and it came down to who was going to have the last run. The Yellowjackets jumped out to a 9-6 lead early and the Statesmen followed with four straight points to take a 10-9 lead. The home team looked like they might begin to walk away with the set after they took a 15-12 lead but WPU refused to fold as they regained the advantage at 18-17. From there William Penn did not surrender the lead and scored the final four points to claim its first conference win in program history.
The Yellowjackets received a heavy dose of Papes who collected 15 kills at a .235 clip. Carlos Garcia (Fr., Laredo, Texas, Biology) was extremely efficient with his nine kills as he hit .421 in the win. Matt Helmick (Fr., Fullerton, Ca., Business Management) and Connor Muff (So., Kenosha, Wis., Business Management) combined for 29 assists.
Two Statesmen finished with double-figure dig totals as Pedro Maciel (Fr., Belo Horizante, Brazil, Psychology) logged 10 and Garcia dug out 10 as he narrowly missed a double-double.
Eli Herro (Fr., Dousman, Wis., Business Management) was doing work along the net as he paced the squad with four solo blocks.
“One thing I love about this season is it’s full of firsts! Tonight we captured our first conference win and I couldn’t be more proud of our team,” Head Coach Luke Bentley said, “We came out strong from the start and battled a very good Graceland team in front of a loud crowd. This was a huge step for our program.”
Next Up: William Penn will travel to Des Moines to take on Grand View on Wednesday.
