Statesmen Drop Four-Setter to Evangel
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa–The William Penn volleyball team rallied to make it interesting, but could not get past Evangel, falling 3-1 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Saturday.
WPU (7-17, 2-10 Heart) lost by scores of 20-25, 26-24, 18-25, 22-25. Highlighted by a .214 clip in the second set, the squad was outhit .178-.139.
The Statesmen suffered a slow start Saturday, giving up the first six points to EU (8-17, 4-8 Heart). They bounced back, however, to close to within two on several occasions, but could not get over the hump.
The second set mirrored the first, except that WPU was able to close strong. Evangel took the early advantage, only to see William Penn answer and capture its first lead of the day at 16-15. The visitors regrouped and were one point away, at 24-21, from holding a strong 2-0 edge, but the navy and gold mounted a huge comeback and scored the final five points to even the match.
WPU bottled that momentum to start the third set for a 5-2 advantage. Unfortunately, the Crusaders were the ones to rally and took the lead for good at 13-12.
The final set was almost exactly like the first. Evangel went up big early and the Statesmen battled back, but they could never get on top to force a fifth and deciding set.
Alicia Jaquez (Fr., Farmington, N.M., Biology) topped the hosts with 13 kills in addition to a .237 hitting percentage; the freshman managed two block assists as well.
Five other Statesmen added at least six assists with Claire Simmons (Sr., Williamsburg, Iowa, Psychology) leading that crew with nine winners. Jordan Carter (Jr., Sigourney, Iowa, Elementary Education) (8), Nashali Cruz (Fr., Bayamon, P.R., Biology) (7), Alexis Weatherspoon (Jr., Kansas City, Mo., Physical Education) and Nesreen Iskandrani (So., Lawrence, Kan., History/Government), with six each, were also offensive contributors.
Haley Smith (Jr., Adrian, Mich., Elementary Education) topped William Penn’s setters with 26 assists, while Taniah Ayap (Fr., Hilo, Hawaii, Exercise Science) finished with 16.
Including 11 in the first set, Ashley Miller (Jr., Kalona, Iowa, Exercise Science) had a big defensive day with 34 digs in the setback.
Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa Tuesday to host Waldorf in non-conference action at 7 p.m.
