Statesmen and Eutectics go the distance, but WPU pulls out win

OSKALOOSA, IA – The Eutectics on Saturday did something they had never done before in a match against the William Penn Statesmen, but it still was not enough to earn a win. In a match that went the distance for the first time between the two, the Statesmen rallied from a 2-1 deficit, staved off a late Eutectic push in the fourth set an ended up winning in five, 25-22, 22-25, 17-25, 25-20, 15-12. It was nearly a three-set sweep for the Eutectics as they took sets two and three and led the opener 18-15 before a late WPU surge.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

WILLIAM PENN DEF. UHSP; 25-22, 22-25, 17-25, 25-20, 15-12

• Set one was tied at each of the first eight possible junctures until the Eutectics scored four in a row, getting kills from Dickson Colado and Grant Hoover to lead 12-8. It was still a four-point lead at 14-10 when William Penn scored three straight, but UHSP still managed to lead 18-15 off back-to-back kills from Cameron Werner and Colado. Using a 5-2 run, the Statesmen managed to tie things at 20-20 and then another 3-0 run gave the home club a late 23-20 advantage. UHSP got a Colado kill and a WPU hitting error, but the Statesmen converted two kills to end up taking the opening set, spoiling a fairly efficient set by the visitors who had 14 kills and just six errors for a .267 hitting percentage.
• Through the first 40 points, the second set featured 13 different ties as neither team was able to gain any kind of separation. At 20-20, the UHSP front line took over racking up a pair of kills from Hoover, singleton kills from Werner and Hansen to claim five of the next seven points and take the set by three. WPU had nine hitting errors in the set while UHSP hit just .150.
• In what had been a tight match heading into the third, set three finally saw a team gain a lead larger than three. It was the same suspect that gave UHSP an 11-4 lead along with an ace from Sylvan Block. The clubs traded the next 18 points as UHSP held a 20-13 advantage and wrapped up the set getting an ace from Hoover and kills from Nolan Rausch and Hansen down the stretch. The Eutectics connected at a match-best .333 in the set while WPU's .138 was their second-worst of the match.
• UHSP had a difficult time minimizing hitting errors in the fourth as they committed eight against 11 kills. They fought to stay in the set, trailing 6-3, 8-7 and 12-10. William Penn gained control taking six of the next seven points and held an 18-11 advantage. The Eutectics made a late push winning six of the next seven themselves getting three kills and three WPU errors to trail 19-17. It was still a two-point margin four points later at 21-19 when the Statesmen only gave up a kill by Maxwell McVickers in taking four of the final five points.
• Falling behind early in a fifth and decisive set makes life difficult and leads of 8-5 and 10-6 put the Statesmen in the driver's seat. A couple of Hoover kills and a pair of WPU errors allowed UHSP to make a 4-1 push and close to 12-10. After trading points, a Colado kill staved off one William Penn match point, but Emilio Spanner put one down to end the match.
• Grant Hoover piled up a match-high 24 kills with a .228 attack percentage. He added a team-high 17 digs and had three service aces. 24 kills is one short of the season-high for Hoover and ties for the fourth-most in a match in UHSP history. Dickson Colado added 14 kills and had just four errors.
• Emilio Spanner paced the Statesmen with 23 kills, five errors and a hitting percentage of .375.
• Brady Zell had 56 assists for WPU while UHSP's Nolan Rausch had 47 assists.
• Xavier Gamayo recorded 16 digs for the Eutectics while 17 from Taylor Brummond led the way for William Penn.
• The Statesmen improve to 10-0 all-time against the Eutectics, however this is the first time that UHSP has forced a head-to-head match to five sets.

NEXT UP:

Stop number six on a nine-match road trip takes the Eutectics (10-13, 6-9 HEART) to Missouri Valley (15-3, 9-3 HEART) on Tuesday. It will be the second meeting of the season between the two as the Vikings took a March 3^rd win in a 3-0 sweep. UHSP is looking for their first-ever win against MoVal as this will be their 13^th meeting.