WPU Hold Off Eutectics, Mustangs in Triangular

Oskaloosa--For the second day in a row, the Statesmen men's volleyball team struggled early, but once warmed up, it cruised to a pair of wins Saturday.

#5 William Penn started the day with a 3-0 win (28-26, 25-14, 25-17) over Health Sciences and Pharmacy in Heart of America Athletic Conference play before getting past non-conference foe Morningside 3-1 (25-27, 25-15, 25-18, 25-10).

WPU 3, UHSP 0

The opening set went back and forth and the navy and gold actually had to fight off a set point for UHSP (11-4, 2-3 Heart) before winning consecutive points on kills by Ike Papes (Sr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) and Charlie Figy (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Secondary Education PE K-12.

The Statesmen rolled from there in a match where they outhit the Eutectics .327-.107.  Down 4-3 in the second round, WPU posted a pair of 4-0 runs and never trailed again in the match.  The hosts went wire-to-wire in the third set, headlined by scoring the last four points.

Papes topped the victors with 15 kills, while Landon Krause (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Business Management) also hit double figures with 12 winners.  Krause was one of two players with a double-double as he also managed 11 digs in addition to two aces.

Cezar Pedroso (So., Curitiba, Brazil, Software Engineering) was the other double-double player, totaling 37 assists, 10 digs, and four block assists.

Offensively, Devyn Zavala (Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Wellness and Recreation), with eight kills, Figy, with seven, and Britten Beallis (So., Naperville, Ill., Sports Management), with six, also contributed to the win.

Defensively, Figy's five block assists were a squad best, while Joao Gabriel Filippelli (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Business Management) led all Statesmen with 13 digs.

WPU 3, MU 1

WPU failed to grab a tight first set, but regrouped quickly and handled the Mustangs (8-8) with ease.  Up just 15-12 in the second, the navy and gold produced three unanswered points on two occasions to even up the match.

The third and fourth rounds were much of the same as William Penn, which owned a .302-.031 hitting advantage, was able to push its winning streak to five matches.

Krause tied for the match lead with 15 kills, while Zavala (12 kills, 17 assists) and Pedroso (39 assists, 10 digs) both ended up with double-doubles.

Figy added nine kills, while the duo of Beallis and Papes both managed seven hitting points.

WPU's net defense was on point as well with 14 total blocks.  Figy and Krause were both part of eight defensive stops, while Beallis assisted on six blocks.

"This was a great day for our program," Head Coach Luke Bentley said.  "I am really proud of our guys in getting wins against two solid opponents.  That is not easy to do, especially after a tough one last night.  I am excited to see how we respond next week."

Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa next Tuesday to host Park in Heart play at 7 p.m.