Statesmen Grit Out Five-Setter Over Peru State
Oskaloosa, Iowa—The Statesmen women’s volleyball team returned to their home court for the first time in a week as they took on Peru State in a Heart of America Athletic Conference showdown.
William Penn (10-12, 5-8 Heart) was able to grind out a five-set victory over Peru State (7-19, 3-6 Heart) to claim its second consecutive win.
After dropping the first set by a score of 25-20, the navy and gold responded by gritting out a 27-25 win in the second set to even things up. The ladies had their backs up against the wall at the end of the set, trailing 25-24 but scored three straight points, capped off by an Alyssa Young (Fr., Winter Springs, Fla., Biology) kill to seal the deal.
The third set was eerily similar to the second. Not only did the Statesmen take the set by a score of 27-25 but once again, WPU found itself down to its final point at 25-24 but managed to score three straight points to collect the win and take a 2-1 lead.
Another close set in the fourth ended in a loss for William Penn by the score of 25-23. The fifth set was more of the same between the two squads as it went down to the wire. Fortunately, the Statesmen found a way to pull it out as they won 15-13 to give them the victory in the match 3-2. WPU trailed 13-12 in the set but a big kill courtesy of Corrin Lepper (So., Jefferson City, Mo., Exercise Science) tied the set up at 13-13 and helped propel her team to three straight points to conclude the match.
The Statesmen outhit the Bobcats .095-.076 and were led by a five hitters who all reached double-digits. Lepper paced the team with 15 while Alicia Jaquez (Jr., Farmington, N.M., Biology), Danielle Pendzinski (Sr., Winnebago, Ill., Elementary Education), Libby Zorn (Jr., Billings, Mont., History), and Young each tallied 10.
Annalise Whitcomb (Jr., Humboldt, Kan., Accounting) and Sydney Roush (Jr., Osceola, Wis., Biology) combined for 51 assists as the duo ran the offense for a majority of the night.
Defensively, Cameryn Campbell (Jr., Jefferson City, Mo., Education) dug 29 balls while Roush accounted for 19 to give her a double-double. Whitcomb finished with 12 digs of her own to also give her a double-double on the night.
“It was great to see us finish tonight, there were a lot of times we had to fight from being down a couple of points and you could really see the resiliency in us.” Head Coach Aleesha Cleaver said, “I thought that we had some freshman make big plays for us, which is really special and fun to see.”
Next Up: William Penn will take a break in Heart of America Athletic Conference action as they will take on Grinnell in Grinnell, Iowa on Wednesday starting at 7 pm.
