William Penn Takes a Set Against League-Unbeaten Ravens
Atchison, Kan.–The Statesmen women’s volleyball team provided a challenge for Benedictine, but failed to pull the upset as it fell 3-1 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Saturday.
WPU (11-14, 2-9 Heart) lost by scores of 20-25, 25-22, 15-25, 10-25. The Statesmen limited the Ravens (20-2, 11-0 Heart) to a .162 hitting mark, but only managed a .109 attacking percentage themselves.
The visitors started slow, giving up the first four points of the afternoon. BC continued to play well, but fortunately William Penn found its proverbial footing. The navy and gold eventually closed to within two at 22-20, but could not finish the comeback in dropping the opening set.
WPU carried its strong play into the second round, leading from wire-to-wire, beginning with tallying the first three points of the set. The advantage grew to eight on a few occasions, lastly at 20-12, before the Ravens went on a huge 7-0 run.
A BC service ace was followed by a kill from Emma Skoglund (Fr., Branson, Mo.) as the visitors stayed in front and evened up with Benedictine at 1-1.
WPU kept rolling, scoring six of the first seven points in the third set. Unfortunately, the Ravens finally figured things out with a 14-3 run and cruised to the 2-1 edge.
The visiting crew was down just 12-9 in the fourth set, only to witness Benedictine finish with 13 of the final 14 points to wrap up the contest.
Maju Vieira (Sr., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Business Management) led the Statesmen offense with 13 kills, while also tallying 12 digs for a double-double.
Hailee Pesek (Sr., New Hampton, Iowa, Nursing) added eight, while Skoglund and Emilie Bojorquez-McFadden (Sr., Surprise, Ariz., Biology) managed seven and six, respectively.
Courtney McWilliams (So., Rockton, Ill., Nursing) also finished with a double-double, posting 16 assists and 11 digs.
Abigail Mitchell (Sr., Oxford, Ala., Nursing) headed the defense effort with 16 digs, while the trio of Skoglund, Pesek, and Kalley Brase (So., Centertown, Mo., New Media) all recorded three blocks. Overall, William Penn only lost the blocking battle 8-7.
Brase also had two of WPU’s four aces, while BC served up 11 aces.
“We competed better today, but still missed the consistency throughout the match,” Head Coach Lauren Eldridge said. “We showed that we can play and compete at a high level, but we need to work on sustaining that level all the way through.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Des Moines next Tuesday to take on Grand View in Heart play at 7 p.m.
