Offense Struggles as Winning Streak Ends
Parkville, Mo.–The Statesmen men’s volleyball team nearly overcame its worst offensive showing of the season as it fell 3-2 to #8 Park in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Tuesday.
#5 WPU (20-4, 13-3 Heart), which had its eight-match winning streak come to a close, fell by scores of 20-25, 10-25, 25-22, 25-22, 12-15. The navy and gold were outhit .297-.191, but almost pulled off the reverse sweep with a 14-6 advantage in blocks.
Knotted at 7-7 in the opening set, the visitors scored three in a row, but the Pirates (19-5, 11-4 Heart) rallied with five of the next six points and never relinquished the lead again.
Nothing went right in a forgettable second set as the Statesmen quickly fell into a 2-0 deficit.
William Penn refused to be a doormat for PU, though, and fought back. The Statesmen trailed early and then again late in the third round, but behind 20-18, the visitors reeled off five consecutive points and stayed alive by hitting .259 (.091 and .000 in the opening two rounds).
The offense did not commit an offensive error in the fourth and overcame an 18-11 deficit in kills to once again take down Park and force a fifth set. Back and forth the squads went until, down 15-13, WPU went on an 8-2 run and held off any push from the hosts.
The opening point of the fifth set was claimed by William Penn, but the Pirates answered with the next five. Undeterred, the visitors bounced right back with four unanswered scores of their own to knot the set at 5-5.
Unfortunately, PU went on a mini 3-1 run and stayed on top to the end.
On a night where it only made 15 hitting mistakes, William Penn could not overcome a 68-36 margin in kills by Park. The Statesmen also lost the aces battle 10-4, but actually finished better in net-service at -12 (16 errors) versus the Pirates’ -15 (25 errors).
Britten Beallis (So., Naperville, Ill., Sports Management) paced the offense with nine kills on a team-high .562 attacking clip. Devyn Zavala (Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Wellness and Recreation) was next with eight winners, while Landon Krause (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Business Management) (7) and Ike Papes (Sr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) (6) also contributed.
Matt Helmick (Sr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) finished with 30 assists, while Joao Gabriel Filippelli (Fr., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Business Management) had seven digs.
As aforementioned, the net defense was the squad’s bright spot with Beallis heading the way with seven blocks (one solo, six assists). Charlie Figy (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Secondary Education PE K-12), with six, Zavala, with five, and Krause and Papes, with four each, were also strong defensive presences.
“This was a brutal way to lose at a tough place to play,” Head Coach Luke Bentley said. “Our guys continued to battle despite some poor performance on our end.”
Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa Friday to face Grand View in Heart action at 7 p.m.
