William Penn Uses Defense to Take Down Missouri Valley
Oskaloosa–The Statesmen women’s volleyball team improved exponentially as the night wore on, earning a 3-1 Heart of America Athletic Conference win over Missouri Valley Friday.
WPU (6-6, 2-0 Heart), which won by scores of 26-28, 25-23, 25-13, 25-12, dominated the hitting battle with a .262-.088 advantage. More impressively, however, was that the navy and gold out-blocked the Vikings 16-5.
The hosts led for much of the first set and were within two points of taking it at 23-21, but faltered down the stretch.
Fortunes flipped in the second go-round as Missouri Valley (9-6, 0-1 Heart) was on top for much of the way, including holding a 16-13 edge. Undeterred, the Statesmen scored three consecutive points as part of a 5-1 run.
Knotted at 19-19, WPU notched four straight points and then held off a mini MVC run to tie the match at 1-1.
The third set appeared to be much of the same with the score being tied twice. Up just 10-8, the Statesmen found a groove and pulled away with seven unanswered points. Another six in a row grew the advantage to double figures as William Penn easily grabbed the 2-1 lead.
The Statesmen refused to relinquish the momentum as they sprinted out to a 4-1 advantage. Runs of 4-0, 8-0, and 3-0 followed and WPU rolled to the victory. Headlining the stretch of eight unanswered were three service aces by Cecily Liphardt (Sr., Lincoln, Neb., Psychology and Business Management). She finished with three aces, while the trio of Macy Bailey (Sr., Bondurant, Iowa, Business Management), Alyvia Johnson (So., Owatonna, Minn., Elementary Education), and Caidince Cleveland (So., Bettendorf, Iowa, General Accounting) all tallied two winners at the line. Overall, William Penn recorded nine aces, compared to just four for MVC.
The Statesmen were without the services of all-Heart performer Corrin Lepper (Sr., Jefferson City, Mo., Biology), but fellow all-leaguer Johnson more than made up the difference. The sophomore not only tallied a season high in kills for William Penn, but also set her own personal career mark with 21 kills on a strong .365 hitting clip.
The other four hitters in the starting lineup were effective as well. Alyssa Young (Sr., Winter Springs, Fla., Biology) tallied eight kills, but more importantly was a wall at the net with one solo block and eight block assists. She finished off an inspiring performance with 12 digs for a double-double.
Andressa Borges (So., Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sports Management) and Katelynn Wissman (Sr., Shawnee, Okla., Biology) each managed seven kills; Wissman did it on just 11 attempts with no errors for a gaudy .636 hitting mark. Both players finished with six block assists as well.
Riley Hungate (Fr., Joliet, Ill., Business Management) added six kills.
The Statesmen employed four different setters, but had most of its success with Bailey leading the offense as she tallied 25 assists. Liphardt’s 19 digs were a team high, while Cleveland posted 14 more.
“What a night! Head Coach Lauren Eldridge said. “We started off slow, but did not let that hold us back. We found our footing and took over the second set and rode that the rest of the night. We had some great performances defensively all around and were able to control the outcome by creating our own points, instead of relying on the other team to give us points. It was great to see our game plan come alive and was even better to be in front of our home crowd, the best fans in the conference!”
Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa Saturday to host #15 Central Methodist in Heart play at 1 p.m.
