William Penn Succumbs to Pioneers in Five Sets
Oskaloosa–The Statesmen women’s volleyball team had lived on the edge all week, but finally fell off the proverbial cliff Saturday as it was defeated 3-2 by MidAmerica Nazarene in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday.
WPU (9-10, 3-3 Heart), which fell by scores of 25-22, 9-25, 28-26, 16-25, 9-15, was outhit .210-.112. It was the third-consecutive five-set match for the navy and gold this week; the Statesmen entered the day with a perfect 3-0 record in five-set bouts this fall.
William Penn took advantage of poor hitting by MNU (6-7, 3-2 Heart) in the opening set as the Pioneers had seven kills while also committing seven errors. Down 15-11, the home squad tallied five points in a row. Facing another deficit at 22-18, the Statesmen rallied again. Led by two kills from Alyvia Johnson (Jr., Owatonna, Minn., Business Management), WPU scored seven unanswered to collect the first set.
The second round was an all-around struggle for the Statesmen, but they rebounded well with their best hitting set, posting a .250 mark in the third. William Penn was on top for much of the way and had several set points before finally putting MNU away to reclaim the match lead at 2-1.
Unfortunately, WPU lost the momentum quickly in the fourth and never recaptured it as it faced a decisive set for the third time in five days. The Statesmen scored the initial point of the fifth set and was even at 3-3, but then permitted the Pioneers to score four of the next five points. The squad answered with the next two tallies to close within one at 7-6, but the visitors were too strong down the stretch.
Johnson posted her third double-double of the week with 19 kills (.300 attack %) and 16 digs.
The junior was the lone player in double digits as Riley Hungate (So., Joliet, Ill., Business Management) was next on the kills list with nine. Jade Melton (Sr., Hallsville, Mo., Psychology) added seven, while Katlyn Jeter (Jr., Solon, Iowa, Business Management) was good for six as well.
Mia Brady (So., Pontiac, Ill., Exercise Science) matched Johnson with a double-double of her own, recording 26 assists in addition to 10 digs. Fellow setter Chyanne Bradford (So., Rowlett, Texas, Secondary Education) assisted on 20 Statesmen kills.
Kaya Caprini (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Psychology) paced the defense with 22 digs, while Patricia De Souza (Jr., Sao Paulo, Brazil, Physical Education) finished with four block assists. Overall, the navy and gold lost the blocking battle 10-7.
Next Up: William Penn travels to Dubuque next Tuesday to face Clarke in Heart play at 7 p.m.
