William Penn Defeats GVU in Four Sets to Open Homecoming Weekend

Oskaloosa--The Statesmen women's volleyball team posted a strong defensive outing as it dropped rival Grand View 3-1 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Friday.

WPU (15-12, 9-5 Heart), which is now riding a three-match winning streak, won by scores of 28-26, 25-19, 17-25, 25-17.  The Statesmen were under their season average with a .157 hitting mark, but were stellar on the defensive end in limiting the Vikings (7-18, 7-6 Heart) to a .067 attack clip.

The navy and gold failed to find their footing early in the evening, trailing by as many as eight points twice in the opening set.  However, down 17-9, the hosts turned their fortune around by scoring two in a row as part of a 5-1 run.  Still down 21-15, William Penn kept clawing away at the deficit and eventually evened the score at 22-22.

WPU fought off three set points by the Vikings and courtesy of a pair of hitting errors and a kill by Alyvia Johnson (Jr., Owatonna, Minn., Business Management), the home squad came all the way back for the 1-0 edge in the match.

The Statesmen again came out of the gate a bit on the slow side in the second round, trailing 6-3, but runs of 4-1 and 5-0 put them ahead for good as they went up 2-0.

The third set witnessed numerous ties before William Penn scored four straight to claim a seemingly insurmountable advantage at 16-12 after three consecutive kills by Riley Hungate (So., Joliet, Ill., Business Management).  Unfortunately, GVU closed strong and stayed alive with the win.

The home crew faced some opposition in the fourth set as well with six ties, but the Statesmen rolled to the finish line with nine of the final 10 points.

Johnson recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 19 digs, while also serving up a pair of aces.

Alyssa Young (Sr., Winter Springs, Fla., Exercise Science) matched her teammate with 13 winners, doing so on a team-best .345 hitting mark.  Hungate joined the double-digit club as well with 10 kills.

Andressa Borges (Jr., Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sports Management), with seven, Keegan Buller (Jr., Rowlett, Texas, Psychology), with six, and Jade Melton (Sr., Hallsville, Mo., Psychology), with five, also found success at the offensive net.  Mia Brady (So., Pontiac, Ill., Exercise Science) finished with 27 assists, while Cate Hahn (Jr., St. Charles, Mo., Biology) was close behind with 21 helpers.

Defensively, Kaya Caprini (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Psychology) guided the Statesmen with 20 digs.  Buller's six blocks (one solo, five assists) paced the front line, while Borges added four assists.  Overall, the victors won the blocking battle 9-7.

"This team is all about the fight and grit this year," Head Coach Lauren Eldridge said.  "We found ourselves in a hole in the first set, but did not let that stop us and we climbed out to get the win.  It was a great team win and a great way to start off Homecoming weekend."

Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa Saturday to host Columbia in non-conference action at 6 p.m.