Statesmen Sweep Culver-Stockton in Heart Opener

Oskaloosa--The William Penn women's volleyball team began its Heart of America Athletic Conference season with a 3-0 sweep of Culver-Stockton Wednesday.

WPU (10-2, 1-0 Heart), which won by scores of 25-16, 25-22, 25-15, outhit the Wildcats .235-.055.  William Penn has now won its last seven of eight contests.

WPU wasted no time in round one, taking an early edge and then using a decisive 7-0 run to build a lead that was insurmountable.

The second set featured a series of early runs with WPU falling behind 8-3.  Head Coach Lauren Eldridge then called a smart timeout, sparking the navy and gold to tie things up at 8-8. Unfortunately, the Wildcats (4-4, 0-1 Heart) responded with a 12-4 explosion, making the score 20-12 in favor of the visitors.

The Statesmen did not surrender in front of a rowdy home crowd, however, unleashing on the Wildcats to the tune of a 13-2 run to go up 2-0 in the match. The set was capped off by a booming kill by Emilie Bojorquez-McFadden (Jr., Surprise, Ariz., Biology).  The junior had 10 kills with a .391 kill percentage.

The Statesmen parlayed the big comeback into a dominating third set.  WPU set the tone with an early 11-8 lead and then put it away with a 10-4 run to complete the sweep.

Maju Vieira (Jr., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Business Management) and Khiani Jackson (Sr., St. Joseph, Mo., Psychology) contributed eight kills each, with Joceline Martinez (Orange County, Calif., Psychology) close behind at seven.

Kaya Caprini (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn., Psychology and Human Services) paced the defense with 14 digs, while Vieira added nine and Emalee Young (Jr., O'Fallon, Mo., Nursing) contributed six.

The duo of Young (16) and Mia Brady (Sr., Pontiac, Ill., Exercise Science) (15) combined for 31 helpers, while Brady also had six digs and three aces to her impressive performance.

"It was a great team win tonight, getting a clean sweep," Eldridge said.  "Talk about grit; the second set, we dug ourselves a hole, but chipped away and came out on top.  This was a great way to start conference play."

Next Up: William Penn heads on the road as it goes to Kansas Friday and Saturday to compete in the McPherson-Tabor Tournament.  On Friday in McPherson, the Statesmen take on Bethel (Kan.) at 2 p.m. and Doane (Neb.) at 4:30 p.m.  On Saturday, WPU matches up with Tabor (Kan.) in Hillsboro at 9:30 a.m. and travels back to McPherson to meet host McPherson at 2 p.m.