William Penn Drops Five-Setter Versus MidAmerica Nazarene

Olathe, Kan.--The Statesmen women's volleyball team went the distance Friday, but could not close out the match in a 3-2 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss to MidAmerica Nazarene.

WPU (17-15, 7-9 Heart) fell by scores of 25-18, 16-25, 21-25, 29-27, 13-15.

The visitors opened strong, hitting .317 in the opening set.  Trailing just once at 6-5, the Statesmen tallied four unanswered points and then slowly pulled away from the Pioneers (16-11, 10-5 Heart).

The navy and gold won the first point of the second round, but quickly lost their momentum as well as the set.

WPU gave MNU a fight in the third, including tying the score twice.  Unfortunately, the home squad was too much down the stretch and gained control of the evening at 2-1.

MidAmerica Nazarene won the opening four plays of the fourth set and looked well on its way to putting the night to rest, but William Penn regrouped and eventually caught up at 15-15 on a kill by Alyvia Johnson (Sr., Owatonna, Minn., Business Management).  The senior tallied 17 kills on the night.

WPU was denied on set point on three separate occasions, but finally finished the round with a Johnson kill and a Pioneer hitting error.

The fifth and decisive set was a nail-biter, featuring eight ties and five lead changes.  Katlyn Jeter (Sr., Solon, Iowa, Business Management) recorded three early kills as William Penn went on top 11-10, but the Pioneers came up with the plays down the stretch to take the victory.

Jeter joined Johnson in double figures with 13 offensive winners, while Khiani Jackson (Jr., St. Joseph, Mo., Psychology) also hit the mark with 12 kills on a team-best .455 attack percentage.

Jade Melton (Hallsville, Mo., Psychology) added eight kills, while Lydia Huston (Jr., Kansas City, Mo., Biology) was her crew's primary setter with 49 assists.

Johnson, with 24 digs, and Jeter, with 18, both finished the bout with double-doubles, while Kaya Caprini (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Psychology) notched 17 digs as well.

Jackson not only hit at a high rate, but was also William Penn's top blocker with two solo blocks and five block assists.  Patricia De Souza (Sr., Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sports Management) contributed five stops as well, while overall the navy and gold owned a 13-7 advantage in blocks.

Next Up: William Penn travels to Baldwin City, Kan. Saturday to face Baker in Heart play at 12 p.m.