William Penn Takes Two in Triangular
St. Louis, Mo.—Coming off the biggest win in program history to date, William Penn (Mens Volleyball) took a break from Heart of America Athletic Conference action to take on St. Louis College of Pharmacy and Midway in a triangular.
WPU 3, STL COP 0
The Statesmen (4-15) got the day started with a clean sweep of St. Louis College of Pharmacy (0-7) by the scores of 25-14, 25-20, and 25-14.
Nine players managed to log at least one kill for William Penn led by Ike Papes (Fr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) with eight while hitting at a .545 clip. Eli Herro (Fr., Dousman, Wis., Business Management) also had an uber-efficient outing, hitting .600 while collecting seven kills. Conor Muff (So., Kenosha, Wis., Business Management) handled duties of running the offense from the setter position, finishing with 28 assists.
Defensively, Chris Freire (Fr., San Antonio, Texas, Biology) posted seven digs and Papes added six. Freire also made an impact as a server as he had three aces.
WPU 3, MU 2
William Penn returned to the court to take on Midway and was pushed to the edge but ultimately came out victorious in five sets by the scores of 19-25, 25-23, 25-14, 21-25, and 17-15.
After dropping the first set, the navy and gold rebounded to take a 25-23 win in set two after trailing in the set 22-19 before reeling off six of the next seven points.
The Statesmen dominated set three, wining 25-14 but Midway didn’t give in and took the fourth 25-21 to force a fifth set.
Five set matches have not been the Statesmen’s friend this season but prevailed this time around, finishing the job 17-15. WPU faced match point twice before firing off three set points to end the match capped off by a Herro kill.
Papes carried the momentum from the first game into the second has he had a team-best 23 kills at a .333 clip. CJ Rettig (Fr., Sierra Madre, Calif., Wellness and Recreation) managed to reach double-digit kills totals as well with 10 kills while adding six digs. Carlos Garcia (Fr., Laredo, Texas, Biology) nearly had a double-double finishing with seven kills and eight digs.
Muff and Matt Helmick (Fr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) combined for 45 assists in the win.
Pedro Maciel (Fr., Belo Horizante, Bra., Psychology) led the way defensively with 11 digs. Helmick almost had a double-double along with Garcia, adding seven digs to his 25 assists.
Overall, the Statesmen outhit the Eagles .218-.176.
“Very pleased with today’s results,” Head Coach Luke Bentley said, “Our second match against Midway was the first five set match we have won all year. It was nice to see the guys come together and pull it out. Very proud of the effort today.”
Next Up: William Penn will take on Clarke Tuesday in Dubuque.
