Papes Has 21 Kills in Loss to Missouri Baptist
St. Louis, Mo.–The William Penn men’s volleyball team suffered their fourth loss of the season, losing to the Missouri Baptist Spartans by scores of 20-25, 19-25, 25-17, 25-13, 11-15.
The Spartans opened the first set with a 7-1 lead and quickly extended that lead to 12-5. The Statesmen tried to battle their way back, but the early hole was too much to overcome as MBU took the opening set. WPU struggled with their attack, committing as many errors as they had kills, while the hosts hit a solid .276 in the opener.
Missouri Baptist opened up with another big run in the second, and although the Statesmen were able to battle back to draw close, the Spartans closed out the set strong to take a 2-0 advantage in the match. The navy and gold were better offensively, hitting .227, but MBU also improved to a .318 rate.
WPU fell behind 6-3 in the third set, but got their feet under them and controlled the rest of the frame. After evening the score at 8-8, the navy and gold took eight of the next 10 points, ripping off another five point run at the end of the third to force a fourth set. The Statesmen finally put it all together offensively with a .393 hitting percentage, while the Spartans were held to a .182 mark.
After taking a 7-3 lead early in the fourth, there was little doubt that William Penn would force a fifth. The navy and gold continued to compile short two and three point runs, slowly building their lead further before closing it out with a final three-point stretch. The Statesmen held MBU to a -.154 attacking clip while hitting .429 themselves.
The finale was a back-and-forth affair to begin with as the two teams played to a 9-9 tie, but the hosts were able to capture some momentum, using a few short runs to take the fifth set and the match. WPU hit .400 in the final frame, but were unable to contain the Spartans, who hit .562 to finish the match.
Ike Papes (Jr., Elwood, Ill., Business Management) led the Statesmen with 21 kills, hitting a healthy .429 for the match. Landon Krause (So., Appleton, Wis., Sports Management) complemented his efforts with nine finishers, while Charlie Figy (So., Appleton, Wis., Sports Management) and Eli Herro (Jr., Dousman, Wis., Business Management) added five and four, respectively. Figy was also a huge presence in the net with seven blocks, and Krause was a part of five rejections.
Connor Muff (Sr., Kenosha, Wis., Business Management) earned 35 assists, also dumping in two kills. Carlos Garcia (Jr., Laredo, Texas, Nursing) led the back row with nine digs, with Papes contributing eight and Krause and CJ Rettig (Jr., Sierra Madre, Calif., Physical Education) adding six apiece.
What’s Next: The Statesmen have two more games on Saturday, facing off against the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy and Cumberland. The first game against UHSP begins at 12 PM, with the Cumberland game following at 3 PM.
