Statesmen Fall in Five to Undefeated Pirates
Oskaloosa–Attempting to do what no one has yet this year, the William Penn men’s volleyball team pushed #5 Park to the limit, but fell just short in a 3-2 loss in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Tuesday.
#9 WPU (12-6, 11-4 Heart), which lost by scores of 25-19, 17-25, 22-25, 25-18, 12-15, had its school-record 10-match winning streak snapped. The Statesmen were seeking to give the Pirates (19-0, 14-0 Heart), the only undefeated team left in the NAIA, their first loss of the season, and also close the gap in the league standings. Unfortunately, with the setback, the navy and gold drop into a tie with Grand View for second place; the Statesmen hold the tiebreaker over GVU, though, for the #2 seed in the Heart Tournament.
In a match where William Penn was outhit .250-.231, most of the sets were fairly lopsided, including the home team posting a .364-.067 attack edge for a comfortable first-set victory. The Statesmen permitted PU to score the first two points, but they then rattled off four of the next five and never trailed again.
The second round was the complete opposite with WPU holding a few early leads, only to witness the Pirates taking the lead for good at 6-5 and running away with it to knot the match at 1-1.
Set three was the tightest and most intriguing of the ‘regular’ 25-point sets as the Statesmen rolled out to a 9-4 advantage, but Park responded with six in a row. The squads exchanged points for a bit with the hosts claiming a 20-19 edge. Unfortunately, the visitors strung together four points in a row and held on to claim the 2-1 margin.
Park, surely smelling blood in the water, was halted as the Statesmen pulled out a ‘not so fast, my friend’, dominating the fourth set, including scoring the first two points and seven of the first eight. They were never threatened in the round, outhitting PU .312-.083. Landon Krause (Jr., Appleton, Wis., Business Management) and Ike Papes (Jr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) both stepped up in the set with five kills apiece.
William Penn carried that momentum into the fifth as it scored the first point in the decisive set. Unfortunately, the Pirates answered with three in a row. The Statesmen stayed right in it and grabbed the lead right back on 3-0 run of their own. The squad then went back and forth for several points, claiming the advantage for the last time at 10-9 on a kill by Charlie Figy (Jr., Appleton, Wis., Secondary Education).
Park tallied the next three points, however, and the Statesmen never recovered. WPU dropped the match, despite posting a 5-2 edge in aces and an 11-10 advantage in blocks.
Three Statesmen reached double-digit kills with Krause (.286 attack clip) and Papes both finishing with 18. Figy was next with 12 winners at a .391 clip.
Matt Helmick (Jr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) assisted on 53 of WPU’s 56 kills; the team lost the kills category 66-56, but conversely, also committed five fewer errors (28-23).
The doer of just about everything, Krause added team highs of three aces and 12 digs to his stat line, while also tying Eli Herro (Sr., Dousman, Wis., Business Management) in blocks with four.
Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa Friday, hosting Missouri Valley in Heart play at 7 p.m.
