Statesmen Cruise Past Clarke in Home Opener
Oskaloosa–Playing on its own court for the first time this year, the William Penn men’s volleyball team gave the home crowd a show as it swept Clarke 3-0 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Tuesday.
#5 WPU (8-2, 3-1 Heart), which was finally in Penn Activity Center after being on the road for the first 33 days of the campaign, won by scores of 25-10, 25-15, 25-19. The hosts hit .333 overall, while holding the Pride (4-7, 1-3 Heart) in the red at -.023.
The navy and gold gave up two of the first three points Tuesday, but then tallied five unanswered and rolled to the opening-set victory. William Penn posted a .364 attacking mark, while CU struggled with nine errors and posted a -.167 clip.
Another early edge for the visitors was wiped away quickly in the second set, and the Statesmen again pulled away with another massive run. They were, however, forced to hold off a bit of a push from Clarke to establish a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third and final set was the closest of the evening, but WPU wrapped it up with five of the final six points to post its fourth sweep of 2024.
Although nine different Statesmen recorded a kill, it was truly a two-man show for the home squad. Landon Krause (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Business Management) tallied a team-high 14 kills with a .571 attacking percentage, while Ike Papes (Sr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) also cleared the double-digit threshold with 11 winners (.444 attack).
Matt Helmick (Sr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) finished with 23 assists, while Devyn Zavala (Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Wellness and Recreation) served up a pair of aces. Both Krause and Helmick managed double-doubles as they produced 10 digs each.
William Penn ended up with a slight 8-7 edge in blocks as Charlie Figy (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Secondary Education PE K-12) guided those efforts with five blocks assists. Krause was right behind him with four assisted stops.
“This was a great home opener for our group,” Head Coach Luke Bentley said. “We love being in front our home fans.”
Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa Friday to host #8 Missouri Baptist in Heart play at 7 p.m.
