William Penn Completes Season Sweep of Graceland on Senior Night
Oskaloosa–The Statesmen women’s volleyball team honored its seniors Saturday and then capped off the festivities by handling Graceland 3-1 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action.
WPU (19-13, 12-6 Heart), which won by scores of 25-19, 20-25, 25-19, 26-24, held a .203-.181 hitting edge over the Yellowjackets (8-22, 3-15 Heart).
With the win, the Heart’s North Division unofficial title will come down to Tuesday night as WPU hosts rival Grand View in the Penn Activity Center at 7 p.m. The winner will also earn the right to play at home for next Saturday’s Heart Tournament Quarterfinals.
Saturday’s opening set was a back-and-forth affair until the Statesmen turned a 12-11 deficit into a 16-12 lead. They were never threatened again to take the 1-0 edge.
The second set started well for the home team, but GU used a 7-1 run and evened the match.
In line with the first two rounds, William Penn and Graceland jabbed at each other for a 14-14 tie. Three consecutive Yellowjacket hitting errors then ensued and the Statesmen sprinted through the open door to take the 2-1 advantage.
The fourth set started as a blowout with WPU ahead 17-9, but GU apparently was not ready to depart Oskaloosa and fought off two match points before a visitor service error and a kill by Andressa Borges (So., Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sports Management) ended the evening.
William Penn, which held an 8-4 advantage in aces and a 10-7 margin in blocks, was paced by Borges with 12 kills. Jade Melton (Jr., Hallsville, Mo., Psychology) joined her in double figures with 11 winners.
Katlyn Jeter (So., Solon, Iowa, Business Management) was next with nine kills, while Corrin Lepper (Sr., Jefferson City, Mo., Biology) had eight and Katelynn Wissman (Sr., Shawnee, Okla., Biology) tallied five.
Macy Bailey (Sr., Bondurant, Iowa, General Accounting) was the top setter with 23 assists alongside three aces.
Defensively, Cecily Liphardt (Sr., Lincoln, Neb., Psychology and Business Management) paced the back row with 18 digs, while Lepper managed one solo block and six block assists in Saturday’s victory.
