Lady Statesmen Ends 2012 with Quarterfinal Loss to Crusaders
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Dubuque–Lacey Taylor (Sr., Cedar, Iowa, Elementary Education) had a big night to break one of the program’s biggest records, but unfortunately it was not enough to get the William Penn volleyball team past #4 seed Clarke in a 3-1 loss in the quarterfinals of the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament Saturday.
The fifth-seeded Lady Statesmen (28-15) lost by scores of 25-15, 16-25, 15-25, 28-30. Clarke advances to face top seed Grand View in Wednesday’s semifinals.
A .324-.051 attacking advantage led the visitors to an easy first set win, but things spiraled downward from there. William Penn was limited to negative numbers in both the second and third sets, and while it improved to .178 for the final set, the Crusaders (28-8) were just a bit better at .217 to close it out.
Taylor ended her collegiate career with a match-high 18 kills, 20 digs, and three blocks (two solos, one assist), but her teammates were unable to join her in double figures. Jeanette Cunningham (Jr., Mt. Orab, Ohio, Elementary Education) was next with six kills, while the trio of Katie Rielly (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Digital Communications), Kylie Giger (Fr., Elkhart, Ind., Undecided), and Alanna Connors (Jr., Libertyville, Ill., Biology) all tallied five winners.
With the 18 kills, Taylor breaks the school’s single-season kills record with 506, surpassing the old mark of 497 by Emily Stanton (2007). She departs the program with that record as well as the marks for single-season aces (77) and single-match attack percentage (.800).
Her 20 digs also helped her eclipse the 1,000-dig mark for her career (1,019).
Dayna Sammons (So., Menomonee Falls, Wis., Software Engineering) assisted on 31 points.
“I loved the way we came out ready to play,” Head Coach Jeremy Wise said. “Unfortunately, we made too many unforced errors that swung the momentum of the match. The team dug in late in the fourth game and left it all on the floor.”
“I told our ladies only one team ends the year with a win but few end the season going out as strong as we did,” Wise added. “It is unfortunate to end one of the school’s winningest seasons this early into the playoffs, but we have a lot to be proud of.”
The loss ends the career of Taylor, Rielly, and Hillary Fisher (Stone Mountain, Ga., Secondary Education).
