WPU Drops Regular Season Finale, Draws CMU in Tournament Quarters

Des Moines--The Statesmen women's volleyball team closed out its regular season on a sour note as it fell 3-2 to Grand View in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Tuesday.

William Penn (16-16, 10-8 Heart) lost by scores of 24-26, 25-15, 17-25, 12-25 in a match where it was outhit .181-.111.  The loss drops the navy and gold to the #7 seed for the Heart Tournament.  They will now face #2 seed Central Methodist in Fayette, Mo. in Saturday's quarterfinal round at 11 a.m.  WPU will be looking to avenge a 3-0 loss to the Eagles back on September 16.

The lone positive of Tuesday's bout was that it broke a streak of four consecutive five-set matches for the navy and gold.

As they sought out a season sweep of the Vikings (WPU won 3-1 on October 20), the Statesmen pounced early with the evening's first five points.  Unfortunately, GVU (12-18, 12-6 Heart) responded with five points of its own and shortly thereafter took the lead for good.

William Penn battled back and drew even at 24-24, but failed to stop the Vikings from scoring back-to-back points.

The visitors got right back into the match with a dominating effort in the second set, leading wire-to-wire with help of a .158 to -.125 hitting edge.  WPU led just 10-8, but tallied seven of the next nine points and never looked back.

Grand View got hot from there, however, and the Statesmen were unable to keep pace in losing both the third and fourth sets.

Alyvia Johnson (Jr., Owatonna, Minn., Business Management) was the lone WPU player to hit double digits, doing so in both kills (11) and digs (11) as she hit a team-high .231 in her double-double outing.

Alyssa Young (Sr., Winter Springs, Fla., Exercise Science) and Riley Hungate (So., Joliet, Ill., Business Management) each recorded eight winners, while Jade Melton (Sr., Hallsville, Mo., Psychology) contributed five.

The setting duo of Mia Brady (So., Pontiac, Ill., Exercise Science) (16 assists) and Cate Hahn (Jr., St. Charles, Mo., Biology) (12 assists) accounted for 28 total helpers, while Hahn and Kaya Caprini (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Psychology) both served up two aces.

Caprini guided the Statesmen defense with 15 digs, while Patricia De Souza (Jr., Sao Paulo, Brazil, Fine Arts) was her squad's best net defender with six total blocks.  Overall, William Penn held a 10-4 advantage in blocks.