Statesmen Collect First Sweep During Busy Weekend
Oskaloosa—William Penn men’s volleyball capped off a quadrangular hosted by the Statesmen on Saturday with a pair of games.
The Statesmen dropped game one in straight sets, succumbing to Jamestown by the scores of 25-13, 25-14, and 25-14.
WPU 0, UJ 3
William Penn fell behind early in all three sets and was unable to find rhythm and cut into the leads eventually falling in three sets.
The Jimmies outhit WPU by a wide margin of .303-.029.
CJ Rettig (Fr., Sierra Madre, Calif., Wellness and Recreation) led the charge for the Statesmen on both sides of the ball as he amassed a team-high five kills and 11 digs in the setback. Anochs Georges (Fr., Orlando, Fla., Undecided) collected four kills and added a couple of digs to his credit.
Pedro Maciel (Fr., Belo Horizante, Brazil, Psychology) was also solid defensively as he had seven digs in the contest.
WPU 3, ITU 0
The Statesmen put together arguably their best performance of the season thus far, finishing out the weekend on a high note with the first sweep in program history as they took down Indiana Tech by the scores of 29-27, 28-26, and 25-17.
The navy and gold hit a season-best .241 clip while holding the Warriors to .139.
WPU trailed the Warriors 17-14 in the middle of set one but responded with four straight points to take an 18-17 lead. The two squad traded shots as it took more than the needed 25 points to settle the set. William Penn had its back up against the wall, as they trailed 26-25 but once again answered with a couple of straight scores to take the 27-26 advantage before finally putting away the Warriors 29-27.
The second set also needed extra points to decide a winner. Indiana Tech jumped out quickly to a 7-3 lead but the Statesmen scored nine straight points to take a commanding 12-7 lead and all the momentum. The Warriors weathered the storm and found its way back, tying the set at 17-17. After being tied at 26-26, Ike Papes (Fr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) put down two kills to solidify the set victory and put WPU up 2-0 in the match.
William Penn controlled much of set three as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead early and extended that to an 11-4 lead. Seven points was as close as the Warriors got as the home team took the final set and the match to once again make history in a season full of firsts.
Papes led the way offensively with a season-high 20 kills at a .421 clip while Rettig had 10 kills himself. Rettig also logged nine digs as well.
Connor Muff (So., Kenosha, Wis., Business Management) and Matt Helmick (Fr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) ran the offense finishing with a combined 34 assists. Muff had 19 and Helmick had 15 to his credit.
Maciel notched 20 digs, the best of his young career.
“It was a great weekend for WPU men’s volleyball and the entire WPU community,” Head Coach Luke Bentley said, “We were able to host three other schools and showcase some great programs. Finishing with a victory was a great way to end the weekend. The guys responded well from the previous matches and played our best match of the year.”
Next Up: William Penn will travel to Mount Mercy on Tuesday and continue Heart of America Athletic Conference play. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 pm.
