William Penn’s Winning Streak Snapped in Five-Set Loss

Canton, Mo.--Four days after picking up a revenge win in league play, the Statesmen women's volleyball team had a chance to do it again on Saturday, but came up short in a 3-2 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss to Culver-Stockton.

WPU (15-12, 5-6 Heart) fell by scores of 16-25, 26-24, 25-21, 16-25, 15-17.  The visitors, who saw their four-match winning streak spanned, were outhit .194-.170 and lost the aces battle 18-8.  They stayed in the contest, however, with an 11-3 advantage in blocks.

After dropping the opening set without much of a fight, the navy and gold fell behind 5-1 in the second round, but answered with six of the next seven points.  In a seesaw set, the Statesmen again trailed big and eventually faced a set point at 24-23.  Fortunately, a pair of kills by Katlyn Jeter (Sr., Solon, Iowa, Business Management) sandwiched an attack error by C-SC (14-10, 6-6 Heart) and William Penn evened the bout.

Jeter led her squad with 16 kills.

In what was a common theme Saturday, the visitors yet again dug themselves a big hole in the third, down by as many as five at 12-7.  WPU, however, caught traction and closed the set on a 5-1 run to take a 2-1 edge over the Wildcats.

The Statesmen failed to finish off Culver-Stockton, though, as the home squad led nearly the entire fourth set to force a winner-take-all fifth round.

Trailing 7-4 in the last set, William Penn collected an ace and a kill from Alyvia Johnson (Sr., Owatonna, Minn., Business Management) as part of four unanswered points.  The Statesmen kept the Wildcats in the rearview and held match points at 14-13 and 15-14, but were unable to avenge their home loss against C-SC from September 28.

Johnson, with 11 kills, and Cate Hahn (Sr., St. Charles, Mo., Biology), with 10, also reached double figures.  Johnson managed a double-double with a squad-best 20 digs as well.

Jade Melton (Hallsville, Mo., Psychology) added six winners, and Khiani Jackson (Jr., St. Joseph, Mo., Psychology) closed out the match with five.

Emalee Young (So., O'Fallon, Mo., Nursing) headed the setting duo with 24 assists, while Lydia Huston (Jr., Kansas City, Mo., Biology) joined Johnson in the double-double club with 22 assists and 12 digs.  Young served up three aces, as did Mia Brady (Jr., Pontiac, Ill., Exercise Science).

Johnson and Jackson were William Penn's best net defenders with six blocks apiece Saturday.

Next Up: William Penn travels to Cedar Rapids next Tuesday to face Mount Mercy in Heart play at 7 p.m.