WPU Ends Losing Streak with Sweep of Eutectics

Oskaloosa--The reserves took care of business Saturday as the Statesmen men's volleyball team swept Health Sciences and Pharmacy 3-0 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play.

William Penn (2-4, 1-2 Heart), which won by scores of 25-16, 25-22, 25-19, hit .240 with 38 kills, while limiting the Eutectics (1-4, 0-3 Heart) to a .000 hitting clip and just 20 hitting winners.

The match began with serving struggles as three of the first four total points were earned via errors.  With the score tied at 5-5, Charlie Figy (Jr., Appleton, Wis., Secondary Education) started a four-point run and the hosts were never threatened again.

The navy and gold faced another early deficit in the second set, but rattled off three in a row to gain control at 6-4.  UHSP did not quit, though, and drew even one more time at 22-22.  Fortunately, Britten Beallis (Fr., Naperville, Ill., Sports Management) put a ball down as William Penn tallied the final three points to go up 2-0 in the match.

Similar to the second round, WPU and UHSP were neck-and-neck throughout the first part of the third set with the Statesmen falling behind 13-11.  William Penn was able to remain calm and collected and rattled off six straight to finish its first sweep of the 2023 campaign.

The Statesmen started mostly reserves in the matchup and went deep into the bench with 10 players recording at least one kill.

Beallis topped the offense with 10 kills, while Devyn Zavala (Jr., Long Beach, Calif., Wellness and Recreation) was next with six.  Figy added five winners on a team-high .625 attack clip, while Ben Cemono-Castillo (Fr., Joliet, Ill., Business Management) and Eli Herro (Sr., Dousman, Wis., Business Management) each finished with four kills.

Cezar Pedroso (Fr., Curitiba, Brazil, Applied Computer Science) tallied 32 assists, while Zavala headed the servers with three aces.  Beallis also had two and WPU recorded nine total aces.

Defensively, Luke Luckfield (So., Honolulu, Hawaii, Applied Computer Science) managed seven digs, while the duo of Figy and Pedrozo both ended up with two block assists.

Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa next Tuesday, hosting Mount Mercy in Heart action at 7 p.m.