Season in Review: Women’s Volleyball Takes Another Step Forward
Oskaloosa, Iowa—William Penn women’s volleyball took another step forward in the 2019 season, playing a much tougher schedule and gaining valuable experience with some new pieces that will hopefully lead the program to even more success in the future.
Under second-year head coach Aleesha Cleaver, the Statesmen finished with an overall record of 12-19 and a conference record of 7-11. The seven Heart of America Athletic Conference wins are the most for the program since joining the league in 2015 and the most conference victories since 2007 when the team competed in the Midwest Collegiate Conference.
The Statesmen began the season with four matches at the KCAC Fall Fling. They went 3-1, defeating Sterling (3-0), Tabor (3-2), and Friends (3-2). The following weekend, William Penn hosted the Wendy’s Invite inside the Penn Activity Center. The tournament featured eight teams and WPU picked up a pair of victories over Robert Morris (Ill.) (3-0) and Avila (3-1).
The navy and gold began Heart of America Athletic Conference play on September 4 against #17 Central Methodist. Unfortunately, the squad was unable to pull off the upset, but bounced back to grab their first conference win with a clean sweep of Culver-Stockton on their home court. The duo of Danielle Pendzinski (Sr., Winnebago, Ill., Elementary Education) and Corrin Lepper (So., Jefferson, Mo., Exercise Science) combined for 29 kills, while Annalise Whitcomb (Jr., Humboldt, Kan., Accounting) tallied 37 assists.
William Penn picked up back-to-back sweeps over Missouri Valley at home, then on the road versus Graceland. Libby Zorn (Jr., Billings, Mont., History) played a major role on the offensive side as she supplied the power, accumulating 21 kills across the pair of wins. The two-game winning streak was short-lived as WPU was stopped by #7 Grand View (3-1). The Statesmen showed great fight as they were able to take the first set 25-17. They quickly got back on the winning track, taking down Culver-Stockton (3-1) in Canton. They then followed that up with a highly-contested 3-2 victory over Peru State in the PAC. Cameryn Campbell (Jr., Jefferson City, Mo., Education) played arguably her best pair of matches of the season as she accumulated 60 digs in the wins.
WPU had an opportunity to showcase its talent against some of the nation’s best at the highly-regarded Grand View Tournament with bouts versus Huntington, John Brown, and #4 Viterbo. Unfortunately, the team was unable to pull out any wins, but the opportunity to see the NAIA’s top teams adds valuable experience moving forward.
The Statesmen concluded its season on October 29 with a 3-2 win over Mount Mercy on Senior Night.
The season concluded the collegiate careers for Nashali Cruz, Casi Gacusana, Kiara Davis, Nesreen Iskandrani, Alexis Jensen, Shauna Knodel, and Danielle Pendzinski.
Three Statesmen were honored by the Heart. Lepper was named second-team all-Heart, while Campbell was named to the third team and Pendzinski earned an honorable mention.
“I am excited for next season because we return the heart of our team, including two all-conference players. Returning so many players who got a ton of experience last fall should put us in a position to have some experience in key positions this upcoming season.” Head Coach Aleesha Cleaver said, “I am really excited about our incoming recruiting class as well. We have a lot of talent coming in that I am excited to see mix with the talent we have returning.”
