Statesmen Secure Share of Conference Title in Sweep Over Yellowjackets

Oskaloosa--The William Penn men's volleyball team earned a share of its first-ever Heart of America Athletic Conference title by sweeping Graceland 3-0 Tuesday.

#4 WPU (21-5, 14-4 Heart), which won by scores of 25-18, 25-13, 25-17, owned a .354-.123 hitting edge over the Yellowjackets (5-20, 3-15 Heart).  The Statesmen also managed nine aces, while not allowing any for GU.

With the victory, the Statesmen claim the Heart regular season title with Grand View, its first in the program's existence (the program started in 2020).  GVU owns the tiebreaker over WPU, so the Statesmen will be the #2 seed for the Heart Championship which begins Saturday.  As the #2 seed, William Penn earns a bye in the quarterfinals and will face an opponent to be determined in the semifinals next Wednesday in Oskaloosa.

The hosts started slowly, falling behind 9-5 in the opening set before calling a timeout.  The break worked wonders as the newly-refocused Statesmen scored the next five points and never trailed again en route to a 1-0 lead in the match.

Sprinting out to a 9-1 advantage, WPU was not challenged in the second set.  Despite hitting an evening-best .520 in the third round, the navy and gold let Graceland hang around for a bit before turning a 10-9 deficit into a 18-12 edge and they cruised to the sweep.

Charlie Figy (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Secondary Education PE K-12), on a team-best .714 hitting clip, and Landon Krause (Sr., Appleton, Wis., Business Management) both hit double figures with 12 kills.

Britten Beallis (So., Naperville, Ill., Sports Management) and Ike Papes (Sr., Elwood, Ill., Sports Management) added seven winners each as well.

Matt Helmick (Sr., Fullerton, Calif., Business Management) assisted on 34 of WPU's kills and also paced the defense with 11 digs for a double-double performance.

In addition to his four kills, Devyn Zavala (Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Wellness and Recreation) was also the squad leader at the service line with three aces.

On a quieter night at the defensive net (WPU had just four blocks, GU had six), Beallis led his crew with one solo block and three block assists.

"This was a great win to finish out our regular season as we look towards the conference tournament," Head Coach Luke Bentley said.  "I am proud of our guys for performing well in a grind of a conference schedule.  We are excited for what is to come next."