Spring Break Week Finishes with Split
St. Louis, Mo.–The William Penn men’s volleyball team finished their week with a split on Saturday, winning their conference tilt against the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy before falling to the Cumberland Phoenix.
WPU 3, UHSP 0
An early tone set by Eli Herro (Jr., Dousman, Wis., Business Management) gave the Statesmen an early first set lead. Herro had a pair of kills and a block in the opening points, and the navy and gold rode the early momentum to a 25-12 victory in the opening frame. William Penn hit .522 in the first set while forcing the Eutectics into eight attacking errors for a -.111 attacking rate.
The second set also started in favor of the Statesmen as Ike Papes (Jr., Elwood, Ill., Business Management) delivered a slew of kills throughout the set to take a 14-7 lead. The two sides traded points from there, but it was plenty enough to give WPU a 25-17 set win and a 2-0 advantage in the match. The Statesmen regressed to a .276 attacking percentage, but still kept UHSP negative at a -.091 clip.
After taking big leads to begin each of the first two sets, the navy and gold continued the trend with an 11-3 lead to begin the third, forcing a timeout from the hosts. UHSP never recovered from the early hole, and the Statesmen completed the sweep with a 25-13 win.
Papes led with 11 kills, and Anthony Torres (Jr., Aurora, Ill., Computer Science) followed close behind with 10. CJ Rettig (Jr., Sierra Madre, Calif., Physical Education) hit a strong .538 for the match, and Herro hit an even .700. Connor Muff (Sr., Kenosha, Wis., Business Management) assisted in 38 of the teams 45 kills in the match, also adding four finishers. Carlos Garcia (Jr., Laredo, Texas, Nursing) led the back row with 11 digs.
WPU 1, CU 3
In their second match of the day, WPU was helped out by some unforced attacking errors early on, but the Phoenix responded with a five point run to take a 9-7 lead. The two teams continued to exchange prolonged runs, but the Statesmen finally came out on top with a 25-22 win.
Unfortunately, that was as much success as William Penn saw in their second match. Cumberland held multiple large leads in set two that the Statesmen could not overcome to even the match 1-1 with a 25-19 win. They also took a big early lead in the third, but this time, the Statesmen rallied to within one point, closing their deficit to 19-18, and again to one point at 23-22. The Phoenix, however, captured the next two points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Needing to force a fifth set, the Statesmen once again fell behind big to Cumberland, who opened the fourth with an 11-4 lead. A late comeback attempt from the visitors fell short, and the Statesmen settled for a split on the day.
Papes led the attacking effort with 22 kills, hitting .333 in the match. Rettig and Charlie Figy (So., Appleton, Wis., Sports Management) were even with seven kills apiece. Muff earned 37 assists while chipping in six digs, and Garcia led with 13 digs. Figy was a menace in the net with eight blocks, while Muff was a part of four.
What’s Next: The Statesmen have their final home game of the regular season on Tuesday against the Graceland Yellowjackets. Tuesday will also be senior night, with festivities likely to happen 20 minutes before the 7 PM start time of the match.
