Statesmen Rebound with Sweep of Clarke

Oskaloosa--The William Penn women's volleyball team returned to the win column Saturday as it swept Clarke 3-0 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play.

WPU (10-10, 6-4 Heart), which won by scores of 25-21, 25-21, 25-11, outhit .214-.086, despite actually losing the kills battle 34-30. The hosts countered that by committing just 12 hitting errors (25 for CU), while also tallying seven aces (only one for the Pride) and posting an 8-5 advantage in blocks.

The Statesmen turned a 4-2 first-set deficit into a 12-8 advantage. They allowed the Pride to draw even at 18-18, but back-to-back mistakes by Clarke (3-15, 0-11 Heart) opened the door for William Penn and it claimed a 1-0 edge.

The second set was a tightly-contested bout with WPU falling behind 16-14. The hosts captured the lead for good at 18-17 and kills by Alyssa Young (Sr., Winter Springs, Fla., Biology) and Alyvia Johnson (So., Owatonna, Minn., Business Management) closed it out.

Up 2-0, the Statesmen wasted no time to finish the match, hitting .278 in the third round, while holding the Pride into the red at a -.065 clip.

Johnson topped WPU with seven kills, while the duo of Young and Andressa Borges (So., Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sports Management) were next with six winners. Borges posted a team-best .455 attack mark in the victory. Corrin Lepper (Sr., Jefferson City, Mo., Biology) also contributed five kills offensively.

Macy Bailey (Sr., Bondurant, Iowa, Business Management) assisted 20 times, while matching Young with a pair of aces.

Defensively, Cecily Liphardt (Sr., Lincoln, Neb., Psychology and Business Management) posted a squad-best nine assists, while Young and Lepper both had a part in four blocks.

"We had a great team showing tonight," Head Coach Lauren Eldridge said. "Our blocking was some of the best of the season, allowing softball touches to funnel to our libero. Sweeping a conference team is huge going forward for the rest of the season."

Next Up: William Penn travels to Peru, Neb. next Tuesday to face Peru State in Heart play at 7 p.m.