WPU Falls to Mustangs in Tough Five-Setter

Oskaloosa--Despite posting its best serving performance of the season, the Statesmen women's volleyball team was defeated 3-2 by Mount Mercy in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Friday.

In a battle for the North Division lead, William Penn (9-10, 5-4 Heart) lost by scores of 17-25, 25-9, 21-25, 25-14, 12-15. The Mustangs (14-4, 7-3 Heart) remain on top of the division, pushing its lead to 1.5 games over the navy and gold.

The match was an up-and-down affair with the hosts hitting as high as .476 in the second set, but also struggling to a .000 clip in the fifth round. Overall, WPU held a .141-.103 edge in attacking percentage.

WPU grabbed an early 4-2 advantage in the opening set, but up 5-4, the Statesmen allowed four points in a row and could not keep pace with MMU the rest of the way.

Courtesy of incredible serving, the hosts pulled out to a 9-1 lead in the following round; Macy Bailey (Sr., Bondurant, Iowa, Business Management) had two aces, while Caidince Cleveland (So., Bettendorf, Iowa, General Accounting) added three more. William Penn was never challenged in tying the match at 1-1.

After the Statesmen permitted the first three points of the third set, Cleveland stepped to the service line and again took over. The sophomore managed two more aces as part of eight unanswered points.

Cleveland finished with seven aces, tying the program's single-match record. She is the eighth player since 2001 to tally seven aces. As a team, the Statesmen posted a 13-7 edge in aces; the 13 aces are a season high for William Penn.

Up 12-8, William Penn gave up five straight points and then allowed another 5-1 run as it fell behind 2-1 on the evening.

Trying to stay alive, the Statesmen were met with quite a bit of resistance as the fourth set was tied 10-10. Four unanswered points gave WPU the edge for good, but another 6-0 run put the round out of reach with the home squad taking momentum into the fifth and deciding set.

Back-to-back aces from Bailey highlighted a 3-0 start for William Penn, but MMU answered with five consecutive points. The home crew rallied to knot the set at 6-6, but unfortunately the visitors took advantage of four errors by WPU and cruised to the win in both the set and match.

William Penn's balanced attack was paced by Alyssa Young (Sr., Winter Springs, Fla., Biology) with 14 kills at a fiery .522 clip. The senior also headed the defensive effort with eight blocks (one solo, seven assists). The Statesmen matched the Mustangs with eight blocks apiece.

Alyvia Johnson (So., Owatonna, Minn., Business Management) also reached double figures with 10 winners in addition to 12 digs for a double-double, while Corrin Lepper (Sr., Jefferson City, Mo., Biology) and Andressa Borges (So., Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sports Management) both concluded the evening with nine hitting points. Katlyn Jeter (So., Solon, Iowa, Business Management) added five kills as well.

Bailey led the setters with 26 assists, while also posting nine digs and four aces. She and Chyanne Bradford (Fr., Rowlett, Texas, Education), who tallied 15 assists and nine digs, both narrowly missed joining Johnson with double-doubles.

Cecily Liphardt (Sr., Lincoln, Neb., Psychology and Business Management) finished with 23 digs, while Cleveland had 13 digs to go along with her serving numbers.

"This was a tough one to lose," Head Coach Lauren Eldridge said. "Statistically, we had the match won, but we just could not find our rhythm in the fifth set, like we had done in the other two sets that we won. In the end, though, we beat ourselves with our decision-making and lack of execution when we needed to stop their run."

Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa Saturday to host Clarke in Heart play at 6 p.m.