Statesmen Just Miss Reverse Sweep of The Master’s

Santa Clarita, Calif.–The William Penn men’s volleyball team narrowly claimed its biggest win of the season as it fell 3-2 to #5 The Master’s in non-conference action Wednesday.

The eighth-ranked Statesmen (15-8), who lost by scores of 16-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 16-18, were outhit .500-.385 in one of the best hitting duels of the year.

WPU led 3-2 in the first set, but quickly fell off the pace in the only lopsided round of the evening.

The second set was almost exclusively sideouts before TMU (11-4) finally scored back-to-back points as part of a 4-1 run and never trailed again for a commanding 2-0 edge on its home court. Both teams were on fire offensively; WPU hit .600 (16 kills, one error), but was bested by The Master’s .654 mark.

The visitors, who closed within one point on several occasions in the second round, carried that strong play into the third set. Tied at 2-2, Eli Herro (Sr., Dousman, Wis., Business Management) and Ike Papes (Jr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) produced consecutive kills and the Statesmen kept the Mustangs in the rearview the rest of the way. A mini 3-0 run a couple points later gave the navy and gold just enough cushion and they were on the board at 2-1 in the match.

William Penn took the third set despite being outhit .400-.353. The crew continued to roll in the fourth, this time posting a better attack clip (.515) than the Mustangs; WPU was near spotless as it tallied 17 kills without an error in the win. For the second round in a row, the Statesmen never trailed as they pushed the match to a fifth and decisive set.

The visiting team tallied the first two points of the fifth and stayed on top at 5-4. A handful of lead changes and ties commenced during the set, including another kill by Papes that put the navy and gold up 13-12. The junior tied his own school record with 27 hitting winners.

Unfortunately, TMU responded with back-to-back points to reach match point. Not to be outdone, the Statesmen also went back-to-back to obtain their own match point. The seesaw match featured consecutive sideouts before the Mustangs finally closed it out with three points in a row.

Papes hit .489 in the setback, while Landon Krause (Jr., Appleton, Wis., Business Management) reached double figures as well with 16 kills in addition to eight digs and three aces.

Charlie Figy (Jr., Appleton, Wis., Secondary Education) was also in double digits (11 kills), while Herro just missed joining the club with nine.

Overall, the Statesmen produced 68 kills (73 for TMU) with Matt Helmick (Jr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) smashing a program assist record that he tied earlier this season as he helped 60 times.

CJ Rettig (Sr., Sierra Madre, Calif., Educational Studies) matched Krause with eight digs, while the trio of Figy, Papes, and Krause were all part of two blocks. In a bout where the defenses were silenced by the incredible attacking, WPU was lost the blocking category 7-4.

“What a match!” Head Coach Luke Bentley said. “In my four years here, this was probably the best match we have been a part of. I am so proud of our fight.”

Next Up: William Penn closes its Golden State trip Thursday by traveling to Irvine, Calif. to face Westcliff at 9 p.m. (Central)

Posted by on Mar 17 2023. Filed under College Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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