Victory and Defeat in Doubleheader for Men’s Volleyball
St. Louis, Mo. — Statesmen men’s volleyball played two contests Saturday in St. Louis, taking on non-conference foe Cumberland in the first match and Heart of America Athletic Conference opponent Missouri Baptist in the second. The team had a great end to the fourth set against Cumberland to win in five sets but were then swept by MBU in the second match. The Statesmen head back to Oskaloosa with an overall record of 4-3 and a 3-3 record in the Heart.
WPU 3, Cumberland 2
Saturday morning got going with the Phoenix of Cumberland, who were 2-3 overall entering the day. WPU let a couple sets get away but closed out the match in spectacular fashion to take the victory.
Set one between the two was as an even affair, with each side jumping out to leads, only for the other to come right back. Eli Herro (So., Dousman, Wis., Business Management) got the navy and gold on the board first and WPU would stay just ahead until the score was tied at 6-6. The score would be tied again at 10-10 and 12-12 before CU started to get the better of the play, going up 17-14, forcing the Statesmen to take a timeout.
WPU would tie the game at both 18-18 and 20-20 but ran then out of steam, falling 25-20 in the first. Both teams were pretty even in the stat category, with WPU hold a 10-9 edge in kills, as the Statesmen hit .250 in the first.
The second set was fantastic for the Statesmen. The team went up 7-3, with Anthony Torres (Fr., Aurora, Ill., Computer Science) and some errors by CU getting the Statesmen ahead. Going up 15-9, the team let the Phoenix back into the set, as they closed within five at 19-14. It was then Ike Papes (So., Eldwood, Ill, Business Management) who took over, providing three of the final kills to lead the Statesmen to a 25-16 decision in set two. The team hit .200 with 11 kills and six errors, capitalizing on Cumberland hitting -.273 in the frame (four kills, 10 errors).
Set three saw CU take the early lead even though Papes got the first point of the set for WPU. The Phoenix went up 6-2 before an error made it 6-3. Cumberland would continue to leap-frog ahead, going up 12-7. But the Statesmen found a way to battle back, slicing away at the lead until, five unanswered points later, it was 12-12.
CU then pulled away once more, going back up by four. But the Statesmen would doggedly refuse to concede, coming back to tie the game at 19-19. Yet once more, the final stages saw William Penn falter, as the Phoenix would win 25-22. WPU hit .267 in the third, with 12 kills and four errors while CU had 15 kills and seven errors.
The fourth could have sent the Statesmen off with a loss and Cumberland certainly thought they had it in the bag. Rolling out of the gate with four-straight points, they gave up only two points in the first 12 rallies, with a service error and a kill by Papes the only hope for WPU. Down 10-2, the deficit soon became 10 at 14-4. The outlook was bleak as the Statesmen tried to find a grain of momentum, getting a kill from both Connor Muff (Jr., Kenosha, Wis., Business Management) and Papes to make the score 18-8.
With a service error making the score 18-9, most would have said it was over. But having taken a number of close defeats last year, this Statesmen squad hunkered down and got to work. With five points coming in quick succession, Charlie Figy (Fr., Appleton, Wis., Sports Management) and Torres helped to make the score 20-13 in favor of CU. The danger level increased as the Phoenix reached 22 points but a strong rally saw Muff put a dump down for a kill to dice the lead to five at 22-17.
A timeout by Cumberland did get them a point off a service error, but the comeback was still on. Muff added another kill and an ace to make it 23-21. An attack error by CU made it 23-22 but they scored next to come within one of winning. Papes then put one down after an intense rally and make the score 24-22. The Phoenix then became their own enemy, as they made three-straight attack errors to serve up the set to the Statesmen 26-24. WPU had 12 kills and four errors in the set, hitting at a .267 rate while the Phoenix hit .258, with 13 kills and nine errors.
The fifth and deciding set was even after 14 rallies, with the sides locked at 7-7. A kill from each side made it 8-8 and from there, the navy and gold rocketed away. Herro put the team up 10-8 and another ace from Figy increased the lead to 11-8. Papes and Torres each recorded kills as WPU cleared CU in the final frame 15-11, taking the match three sets to two. WPU hit .429 in the final, generating seven kills with only one error when things mattered most.
The team hit .269 in the match, collecting 52 kills, six aces, 35 digs, and four solo blocks. They forced the Phoenix into a .107 attack percentage for the contest.
Papes had a monstrous game, with 20 kills, two assists, and four digs. Figy was also strong in the attack, with 10 kills and three errors. He also snuck in two service aces. Muff set a new personal best with six kills, and also put up 40 assists. Carlos Garcia (So., Laredo, Texas, Biology) had seven digs while Torres led the team with eight, with Muff making six.
MBU 3, WPU 0
The squad did not have a lot of time to rest or celebrate their victory, as game two for the day was right around the corner. The #3 team in the nationn stood at 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the Heart on the year. Having just been swept by Grand View, the team showed William Penn that there were no slouches on the Spartan side Saturday.
MBU sprung out to a quick 2-0 lead before an error and a service ace from Muff tied things at 2-2. But the Spartans wanted to pounce early on the Statesmen, who were not as fresh as normal after the five-setter against Cumberland. Going up 12-8, they seemed to be in control, but WPU were not that exhausted, as they battled back to a 15-10 score line with kills from Torres and Figy. The Spartans kept the navy and gold from gaining too much momentum though, checking the Statesmen advance at 20-16, winning the first set 25-17. WPU hit .148 in the first, with nine kills and five errors while MBU had 12 kills and two errors.
William Penn now saw the task at hand and buckled down once more, with Papes getting the team on the board in the second on the first rally. The sides exchanged points, with the game getting tied at 3-3 and then 4-4. Figy banished another ball to the floor and after a couple attack errors by MBU, the Statesmen had a 7-4 lead. Staying an inch ahead, WPU was the first to double-digits and kept the lead at two until the Spartans delivered three aces in a row to tie things at 15-15. Despite a timeout, William Penn seemed to lose something, as they managed only three more points in the set, with MBU taking the win 25-18. The Statesmen had eight kills and six errors in the second frame while MBU once more posted 12 kills with four errors.
The third was a similar story. Down 2-0, the Statesmen worked things back to level, dueling the Spartans until it was 6-6. From there, MBU started to pull away, taking their lead from 10-8 to 18-11 over the next few rallies. WPU played hard in the final stages, getting eight points, but were unable to keep the Spartans off the board, as they posted a 25-18 victory to clinch the sweep. WPU hit .154 in the final game, with 11 kills and seven errors while keeping MBU to nine kills with one error.
Figy had 10 kills in the match to lead all players, as Papes was second with seven and Torres third with five. Muff posted 24 assists while Garcia played effectively in the back row, making 11 digs to lead the lineup.
Next Up: Nothing gets easier for the two home matches next week for William Penn. The team will face Mount Mercy (RV) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 9. Grand View will then come to town on Thursday.
