William Penn Cruises Past Graceland

Lamoni--The William Penn women's volleyball team bounced back from a tough weekend, sweeping Graceland 3-0 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Tuesday.

WPU (12-5, 2-0 Heart) defeated the Yellowjackets (4-10, 0-3 Heart) by scores of 25-20, 26-24, 25-12, led by outhitting Graceland .252-.028.

After making easy work of the opening round, the second set saw a barnburner as GU used a 13-6 run to tie things up at 24-24, but back-to-back errors by the Yellowjackets gave the Statesmen the 2-0 advantage.

The navy and gold never took their foot off the gas from that point to remain perfect in the league.

Leading the Statesmen offense was Abigail Mitchell (Jr., Oxford, Ala., Nursing) with 11 kills, while Emilie Bojorquez-McFadden added seven and freshman Kalley Brase (Centertown, Mo., New Media) chipped in six.

With seven kills, four aces, and 13 digs, Maju Vieira (Jr., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Business Management) delivered another strong outing for WPU.

Kaya Caprini (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn., Psychology and Human Services) anchored the defense with 13 digs of her own.  Boroquez-McFadden added 11, and nine more came from Mia Brady (Sr., Pontiac, Ill. Exercise Science).  Brady again led the Statesmen in assists with 13, while freshman Courtney McWilliams (Rockton, Ill., Nursing) chipped in 10.

"It is great to get a road conference win, especially a 3-0 one," Head Coach Lauren Eldridge said.  "We were able to figure things out during the set instead of during the next one, and our serving was on point tonight along with our execution."

Up Next: William Penn travels to Marshall, Mo. Friday to face Missouri Valley in Heart action at 7 p.m.