William Penn Sweeps Pride in Road Contest
Dubuque–The Statesmen men’s volleyball team nearly went wire-to-wire as it swept Clarke 3-0 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Tuesday.
#5 WPU (18-3, 11-2 Heart), which won by scores of 25-14, 25-19, 25-16, outhit the Pride .426-.087. The win is the program’s sixth in a row.
The visitors allowed CU (5-18, 2-11 Heart) to score the first point of the evening, marking the hosts’ only lead of the entire match. The Statesmen countered with five points in a row and rolled to the victory in the opening set, posting a .364 attacking clip along the way. Clarke, on the other hand, struggled to a -.043 mark.
William Penn started the second round with four unanswered points, but the Pride stayed close, pulling within one on several occasions. Ahead 10-9, the navy and gold, who owned a match-best .550 hitting mark in the second, tallied four straight points and were not threatened again for a 2-0 edge in the bout.
Already up 8-5, the Statesmen put away the third set with a 5-1 run. WPU only produced eight kills in the go-round, but also committed just one error for a .368 clip.
Landon Krause (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Business Management) guided his crew with 10 kills at a .471 percentage. Devyn Zavala (Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Wellness and Recreation) was next with eight kills, while the duo of Ike Papes (Sr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) and Britten Beallis (So., Naperville, Ill., Sports Management) (.778 clip) both added seven winners.
Matt Helmick (Sr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) assisted on 29 kills in addition to two of William Penn’s three aces.
Blocking did not play much of a factor in the match as William Penn fell short in that category 5-2. Charlie Figy (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Secondary Education PE K-12) led that effort with two block assists.
“This was a nice road win,” Head Coach Luke Bentley said. “We continue to work for victories away from home which is what we need at this point.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to St. Louis, Mo. Friday to face Missouri Baptist in Heart play at 7 p.m.
