William Penn Win in Four Over UHSP
St Louis, Mo.–Traveling to St. Louis for a weekend of action, Statesmen men’s volleyball took on the hosting Eutectics of the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in a Heart of America Athletic Conference match. The Statesmen took some time to find their footing, but eventually proved too much for the home side, take the match in four sets, with scores of 25-23 (UHSP), 25-19, 25-20, 25-18. The team is now 3-2 in both their overall and conference record.
The first set caught the Statesmen by surprise, as the winless Eutectics fired away to a 6-1 lead. Luke Scheuble (So., Hemet, Calif., Wellness & Recreation) made the first kill for WPU to make it 6-2, which helped to get the team back into form. Fighting back to an 8-8 tie, the nay and gold got kills from Scheuble and Caleb Seguin (Jr., Pickering, Ontario, Digital Communication), with Matt Helmick (So., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) tallying the assists.
After a few more rallies, the teams remained even on the board. It was the Eutectics that made the next move, going up 13-9. CJ Rettig (So., Sierra Madre, Calif., Physical Education) made a big kill to get the Statesmen serving again but UHSP went on another run, climbing to an 18-12 lead.
After a timeout taken by the Statesmen, the squad responded, closing the gap until they trailed 21-19. But that is as close as they got, as the Eutectics showed they had something to prove, taking the first set 25-23. The Statesmen hit .146 in the set, with 13 kills and seven errors in 41 total attempts.
Set two started even but UHSP walked out to a 4-2 lead. Charlie Figy (Fr., Appleton, Wis., Sports Management) helped to tie the game at 4-4 but William Penn soon fell behind by three. Yet again, the rally started on a blast from Figy and another from Seguin. The two teams continued to stay close until WPU finally caught up and tied the score at 13-13. From that point on, the Statesmen stormed out in front, building a 21-17 lead. The Eutectics managed a couple more points but the navy and gold prevailed 25-19. The team hit in the negatives but still had 10 kills to the three UHSP had.
The third saw WPU take a 2-0 lead off a couple errors from the home side, eventually riding that game plan to a 6-2 lead. UHSP closed to within two points once in the middle stages, but more errors and some offense from Michael Cox (So., San Jacinto, Calif., Business Management) put the squad up 17-10. There was some cause for concern, as once WPU went up 20-13, the Eutectics closed up to within three, trailing only 23-20. But the home side made a couple errors, handing the set to the Statesmen 25-20.
The fourth set started with WPU going up 2-0. They continued to stay ahead by two points until they went on a 5-2 run that put them up 10-7. Once more, UHSP kept staying within touch but they could not close up enough to threaten the navy and gold. Up 13-10, the team rolled out to a 20-13 lead. Seguin, Figy, and Scheuble all provided kills in torrent. While the Eutectics went on a small run of four points at the end of the set, the Statesmen took a service error for the win, winning the set 25-18 and the match three sets to one.
The team hit .109 for the game, collecting 43 kills, six aces, and three solo blocks. They held UHSP to a hitting percentage of .036 and 36 kills. Scheuble has a fantastic night, getting 10 kills and 11 digs for the double-double. Seguin had 10 kills as well, with Figy collecting nine. Carlos Garcia (So., Laredo, Texas, Biology) had a team-high 20 digs while Francisco Cruz (Fr., Aurora, Ill., Computer Science) had 10. Cruz also split time with Helmick at setter, with Cruz notching 23 assists and Helmick 14.
Next Up: The Statesmen have a double header tomorrow, with games against Cumberland and Missouri Baptist. Cumberland will be at 10:00 a.m. and Missouri Baptist at noon.
