Statesmen Roll Over Bobcats in Sweep

Oskaloosa--The William Penn women's volleyball team returned to its winning ways Tuesday with a 3-0 Heart of America Athletic Conference victory over Peru State.

WPU (12-11, 6-4 Heart) won by scores of 27-25, 25-12, 25-18, headlined by a .277-.043 hitting advantage and a 7-2 margin in total blocks.

The Statesmen and the Bobcats (7-13, 2-6 Heart) exchanged leads three times in the opening moments of the match, but the hosts eventually pulled away by three points on a few occasions.

Unfortunately, PSC rallied with four unanswered to go up 22-21 to force a navy and gold timeout.  The break was well-utilized as William Penn bounced back with three straight of its own and pushed the visitors to call a stoppage of play.

Back and forth the sides went down the stretch, including a pair of set points for Peru State, but the Statesmen fought them off and finally put the first set away with kills via Jade Melton (Sr., Hallsville, Mo., Psychology), Andressa Borges (Jr., Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sports Management), and Riley Hungate (So., Joliet, Ill., Business Management).

The Statesmen fell into 2-0 and 5-2 holes in the second set before responding with an 8-0 run.  The home crew added runs of five and four straight as it went up 2-0 in the match.

The Bobcats led 2-1 to start the third round, but William Penn strung together five points in a row and never looked back.  The navy and gold did, however, stumble a bit and let PSC within striking distance, but Emilie Bojorquez-McFadden (Fr., Surprise, Ariz., Undecided) put a bow on the evening with back-to-back kills.

Hungate and Alyvia Johnson (Jr., Owatonna, Minn., Business Management) guided William Penn with 12 kills each.  Johnson also recorded 15 digs to notch another double-double.

Melton joined the pair in double figures with 10 kills, while Alyssa Young (Sr., Winter Springs, Fla., Exercise Science) had an all-around successful performance with seven kills, three aces, and three block assists.

Mia Brady (So., Pontiac, Ill., Exercise Science) matched Johnson with a double-double of her own, producing 22 assists and 12 digs.

Kaya Caprini (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Psychology) and Katlyn Jeter (Jr., Solon, Iowa, Business Management) added 11 digs each, while Melton also had three block assists to match Young's defensive contribution.

"It feels good to sweep a conference opponent," Head Coach Lauren Eldridge said.  "We did a lot of good things on both sides of the ball.  We were able to work on things that will help us going into the second half of the conference schedule.  We are starting to click as a team and I am excited to see how we compete moving forward."

Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa Saturday to host Park in Heart play at 2 p.m.