Pride and Statesmen battle in pair of extended sets en route to WPU 3-0 win
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Back on their home floor after a brief road trip last weekend, the Clarke University women's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 match to William Penn University at the Kehl Center on Tuesday evening.
The two familiar Heart of America Athletic Conference foes played nearly even sets in the first and second and the score showed in the form of both sets going to extra points, the first finishing at only 26-24 but the second going all the way to 32-30 in favor of WPU with both teams matching their kill totals in each set, with the errors matching in set one and William Penn having only one more error in the second.
William Penn would run away in the third and final set to a 25-18 win to close out the match where they would have their best hitting percentage set of the night at .225 compared to an even .000 for CU as the Statesmen pulled away in the middle of the set behind a 5-0 run that put them from up 12-10 to up 17-10 as they wouldn't look back.
The offensive star of the match was Clarke junior Kortney Harms as she tied her career-high of 16 kills while finishing an assist away from a tripled-double with 10 digs and nine assists as she scored a match-high 18.5 points, also tying a career-high, adding three block assists and an ace to her night.
The Pride also touted match leaders in the other two major stat categories as freshman setter Jaxcyn Berntgen led in assists with 17 and junior libero Jayden Knox had a match-high 22 digs keeping the play alive on plenty of occasions for CU, including an electric pancake in the first set that was kept alive by a kick from Harms where the play would end with a solo block by Kelsey NeCollins.
That play highlighted a strong defensive match for NeCollins, who finished with five kills, a .455 hitting percentage, and was in on seven total blocks, two solos and five block assists to tie her career-high for total blocks in a match, which she accomplished three other times before tonight.
Making the move from the right side of the attacking formation to an outside hitter position, junior Keely Colyer finished with 11 kills on 36 swings as the only other member of the CU lineup in double figures with kills with the third and final member of the Pride to record double digit digs was Kira Finlay as her 15 digs was also more than any other player in the match outside of Knox.
William Penn's offense was led by a 13-kill, 11-dig double-double from outside hitter Maju Vieira as she finished with a .140 hitting percentage with middle blockers Khiani Jackson and Joceline Martinez combining for 11 kills on 26 swings and only one error then setter Mia Brady finished with a 13-assist, 12-dig double-double.
Clarke will host a Homecoming match for the first time since 2019 when they welcome Grand View University to the Kehl Center on Saturday, Oct. 18 with a 2:00 p.m. CT scheduled first serve between the Pride and Vikings.