Statesmen Open Pool Play with Four-Set Win over Reinhardt
Cedar Rapids–An outstanding defensive effort lifted the William Penn men’s volleyball team to its first-ever win at the NAIA National Championship as it opened Pool D competition with a 3-1 win over #12 seed Reinhardt (Ga.) Thursday.
The fifth-seeded Statesmen (23-6) won by scores of 25-16, 23-25, 25-11, 25-15. WPU will now look to advance out of pool play for the first time in program history. That goal can be accomplished with a victory of #4 seed Ottawa (Ariz.) Thursday; the teams meet at 4 p.m. RU defeated OUAZ in five sets on Tuesday.
The navy and gold, who posted a .374-.051 hitting advantage over Reinhardt, took control of the match at the defensive net with a 15-5 edge in blocks. Those numbers made up for some serving struggles as William Penn had 20 service errors against five aces.
The Statesmen won the first two points of the afternoon, but were in a battle with the Eagles (29-2) at 8-8.
WPU finally got separation with four unanswered points and never trailed again. Another 6-0 run put the set on ice.
The second set was tight throughout, but seven service errors doomed the Statesmen in the end as Reinhardt evened the match at 1-1.
Facing its first adversity of the contest, WPU responded extremely well. After permitting the Eagles to tally the first point of the third set, the Statesmen reeled off seven consecutive and hit .444 collectively, while keeping RU deep in the red at -.192. William Penn finished the set with seven blocks.
The sides shared the first eight points of the fourth set before the Statesmen won back-to-back points and stayed on top the rest of the way. Led by five blocks and a gawdy .632 attacking clip, the navy and gold turned took a 14-12 edge and blew it wide open with an 8-1 run to wrap up the win.
Landon Krause (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Business Management) headlined the offense with 16 kills, while Britten Beallis (So., Naperville, Ill., Sports Management) also eclipsed double figures with 13 winners on a team-high .632 hitting mark.
Charlie Figy (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Secondary Education PE K-12) narrowly missed the double-figure club with nine kills, while Ike Papes (Sr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) and Devyn Zavala (Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Wellness and Recreation) each recorded seven.
Matt Helmick (Sr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) recorded a double-double with 36 digs and a team-best 13 digs, while he and Krause both served up two aces.
Six different Statesmen had multiple blocks with Beallis being a part of eight (one solo, seven assists) and Figy having a hand in seven (seven assists).
“This was a great team win for our group,” Head Coach Luke Bentley said. “I am proud of our guys for getting our first win at nationals.”
