Statesmen Fall in Five-Setter to #7 Pirates
Oskaloosa–The William Penn men’s volleyball team nearly picked up its first-ever top-10 victory, but could not hold off #7 Park in a 3-2 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss Tuesday.
WPU (10-9, 5-8 Heart) fell by scores of 28-26, 25-23, 19-25, 15-25, 10-15. The setback also snaps the program’s school-record four-match winning streak.
The home team, which was swept by Park (14-3, 11-3 Heart) back on February 16, was a bit sluggish at the onset as it trailed 4-1. Helped by some PU hitting errors and kills by Eli Herro (So., Dousman, Wis., Business Management) and Charlie Figy (Fr., Appleton, Wis., Sports Management), the navy and gold bounced back with five of the next six points for their first advantage.
PU answered and held the lead for most of the first set, including being up 20-16. William Penn tallied back-to-back points to force a Park timeout and the set eventually went down to the wire.
The sides combined for three set points before the Statesmen finally rattled off three straight to take the win. The Statesmen outhit the Pirates .194-.143, including taking advantage of 10 Park hitting errors.
Having captured the momentum, WPU did not relinquish it for quite some time, leading the second set from start to finish. Producing the first three points of the round, William Penn owned five-point margins on several occasions, including as late as 20-15. The Pirates battled back to tie it at 21-21, but the Statesmen closed strong for the 2-0 edge. The navy and gold were outhit .286-.229 in the set, but were better at the service line with one ace and just two errors. In comparison, Park had no aces and four errors.
Looking to close it out via an emphatic sweep, the hosts pulled out to a 7-4 lead in the third set. Unfortunately, four straight points not only gave the Pirates the advantage, but allowed them to steal back some momentum. They would continue to grow more and more confident as the evening wore on and rallied to take the match.
After struggling to keep pace in the third and fourth sets, the Statesmen fought back and forth in the early parts of the final round, being tied at 3-3 and 6-6. Unfortunately, four unanswered put Park in the driver’s seat and it cruised to the victory.
William Penn was outhit .263-.170 at night’s end, coming up short in the kills category 69-51, but committing two fewer errors (25-27). The Statesmen posted a stronger defensive net presence as well with 12 total blocks, including eight solos and eight assists.
Ike Papes (So., Elwood, Ill, Business Management) put his team on his back with 19 kills, 18 of which came by the midway point of the fourth set.
No other Statesmen hitter reached double figures, however, with Anthony Torres (Fr., Aurora, Ill., Computer Science) and Figy both ending up with eight winners. Figy’s .333 hitting mark topped WPU, while Herro and CJ Rettig (So., Sierra Madre, Calif., Physical Education) were good for six kills each.
Connor Muff (Jr., Kenosha, Wis., Business Management) assisted on 44 kills, while Rettig guided the defense with 12 digs. Carlos Garcia (So., Laredo, Texas, Biology) (11) and Torres (10) also hit the double-digit mark. Herro headlined the block party with four solo blocks and two block assists.
“Our guys continue to battle night in and night out,” Head Coach Luke Bentley said. “I cannot be mad about their effort. Park is a very strong team and to take them to five sets, we took some big steps forward tonight.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Canton, Mo. Thursday to face Culver-Stockton in Heart play at 7 p.m.
