Statesmen Avenge Loss to Vikings
Oskaloosa–The William Penn men’s volleyball team won a tightly and hotly-contested battle Friday, defeating #12 Missouri Valley 3-1 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action.
#5 WPU (16-3, 9-2 Heart), which outhit the Vikings .234-.166, won by set scores of 23-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-21.
In an emotionally-charged matchup that witnessed a plethora of ties and lead changes, the Statesmen avenged a 3-2 road loss to MVC back on February 23.
The hosts, who now own a four-match winning streak, were slow out of the chute as they gave up the first four points of the night. William Penn trailed by six on several occasions, but kept battling and eventually closed to within one at 23-22 before finally succumbing to the Vikings (13-4, 7-4 Heart).
The navy and gold responded with a much better effort in the second round, taking a 3-2 deficit, scoring three in a row, and never trailing again. MVC managed to knot the score a few times, but a kill by Ike Papes (Sr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) wrapped it up and evened the match at 1-1. The Statesmen narrowly came away with the set, despite posting a significant .407-.176 margin in attacking.
WPU sprinted to advantages of 6-2 and 10-5 in the third set before the visitors found their footing. Still up 21-18, the Statesmen stumbled and allowed the Vikings to tie the score at 24-24, but again, Papes, who had a team-high 19 kills, produced a winner and Missouri Valley errored on the final point for a 2-1 WPU edge.
The fourth go-round was a wild one with both sides going on top, but down 18-17, the home squad rattled off five consecutive points and held off the Vikings for the victory.
The Statesmen were short in the kills department 58-47, but only committed 18 errors, compared to 33 for MVC. Of those 33 errors, many came via WPU blocks as WPU owned a 13-9 edge in defensive stops.
Papes’ 19 offensive winners came on a .375 hitting clip. Landon Krause (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Business Management) joined him in double digits with 14 kills, while Britten Beallis (So., Naperville, Ill., Sports Management) ended the night with six.
Matt Helmick (Sr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) dished out 40 assists, while Joao Gabriel Filippelli (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Business Management) led the defensive back row with 14 digs. Devyn Zavala (Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Wellness and Recreation) put up sizeable numbers on defense as well with 10 digs and four block assists.
Charlie Figy (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Secondary Education PE K-12), however, topped the net defenders with eight block assists; Krause and Beallis each had a part in five block assists as well.
Both teams were less than stellar at the service line as each had just two aces, while Missouri Valley committed 15 errors and William Penn had 14.
“I cannot say enough about the fight in this group,” Head Coach Luke Bentley said. “This was a great team win with great determination from the guys.”
Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa Saturday as it hosts Culver-Stockton in Heart action at 1 p.m.
