Statesmen Narrowly Escape with Victory Over Clarke
Dubuque, Iowa–The William Penn men’s volleyball team narrowly escaped with a victory on Wednesday, defeating the Clarke Pride in five sets of 25-19, 19-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-13.
Ike Papes (Jr., Elwood, Ill., Business Management) set the tone with a kill on the opening point. The two teams traded points throughout the beginning of the set, but the Statesmen attack was strong. Papes had reached five kills by the midway point, while Landon Krause (So., Appleton, Wis., Sports Management) had four finishers. Papes then took over, blocking a Clarke attack before ripping off four consecutive kills as the Statesmen captured the opening set. WPU held the Pride to a .105 hitting percentage while hitting a phenomenal .517 as a team. However, the visitors committed eight service errors in the opening frame, which helped the Pride keep the set close.
Clarke built a huge lead to open the second set, leading 14-8 at the midway point. The Statesmen stormed back with seven straight to tie the game at 15, but Clarke recaptured their momentum from the first half and took set two. The hosts still struggled from the attacking end hitting .185, but William Penn had even greater struggles after posting a measly .148 mark.
WPU wasted no time trying to put the third set out of reach, taking an early 12-4 lead. Charlie Figy (So., Appleton, Wis., Sports Management) was impressive during that stretch with four kills and a block. The hosts began to chip into the lead late, but the early hole was too much to overcome as the Statesmen went back on top in the match.
The fourth set was much more closely contested early on, but the navy and gold took a 15-11 lead as they tried to finish the match. Clarke battled back to even the match at 17 again, but once again the Statesmen seemed to be on the precipice with a 20-17 advantage. Unfortunately, the Pride were able to force a fifth set after stringing some late runs together.
Krause and Papes got the visitors off to a good start, and WPU took a commanding 12-6 advantage to force a Clarke timeout. The Pride didn’t go down easily, however, and rattled off seven of the next eight points to even the final set at 13. Krause ripped home a kill to put the Statesmen at match point, and Papes’ ensuing serve rolled off the top of the net and fell onto the court for a game-ending ace.
Papes, Krause, and Figy were a three-headed monster on the attacking end. Papes had a game-high 23 kills, while Krause finished right behind him with 22, also hitting at an incredible .625 pace. Figy was a force in the middle, finishing with 13 kills against only two errors while contributing on three blocks. Eli Herro (Jr., Dousman, Wis., Business Management) had three rejections as well, as did Krause.
CJ Rettig (Jr., Sierra Madre, Calif., Physical Education) led the back row effort with 13 digs. Krause finished second with nine, and Carlos Garcia (Jr., Laredo, Texas, Nursing) added six. Setting duties were split between Connor Muff (Sr., Kenosha, Wis., Business Management) and Matt Helmick (Jr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management), with Muff finishing with 29 assists and Helmick adding 25.
What’s Next: The Statesmen will host their first ever tournament this weekend, with their first game coming on Friday at 7:30 PM against Kansas Wesleyan. They will also have three games on Friday at 9 AM, 2 PM, and 4:30 PM.
