William Penn Bounces Back Against Culver-Stockton

Canton, Mo.–The Statesmen men’s volleyball team returned to its winning ways Saturday as it defeated Culver-Stockton 3-1 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play.

#5 WPU (7-2, 2-1 Heart), which won by scores of 25-23, 25-13, 25-27, 25-15, posted a .374-.181 hitting edge.

A 7-1 run seemed enough to put the first set away for the visitors, but the Wildcats (2-10, 0-3 Heart) roared back and tied the round several times. Tied at 23-23, backup setter Cezar Pedroso (So., Curitiba, Brazil, Software Engineering) finally took matters into his own hands, finishing the set with a kill and then a block with help from Charlie Figy (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Secondary Education PE K-12).

The navy and gold won the first five points of the second set and were never threatened en route to a 2-0 lead in the match.

Despite posting a match-best .423 clip in the third, William Penn, which owned one match point, was unable to close out the afternoon as C-SC also had a strong showing.

Fortunately, the Statesmen regrouped and cruised to an easy win in the fourth set to take the bout.

Landon Krause (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Business Management) guided the victors with 17 kills, while Ike Papes (Sr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) also reached double figures with 12.

Britten Beallis (So., Naperville, Ill., Sports Management) (8), Devyn Zavala (Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Wellness and Recreation) (6), and Figy (5) also contributed offensively.

Pedroso performed well off the bench, tallying 43 assists with three ace, while the navy and gold managed eight aces overall.

Defensively, Luke Luckfield (Jr., Honolulu, Hawaii, Software Engineering) recorded nine digs and Figy produced five blocks.

“This was a good win to rebound from Friday’s match,” Head Coach Luke Bentley said. “Now it is on to the next one.”

Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Tuesday for its home opener against Heart foe Clarke at 7 p.m.