Pride opening set win not enough in 3-1 loss at William Penn
OSKALOOSA, Iowa - Looking to salvage a victory in their final match of the week, the Clarke University women's volleyball team started off on good footing but couldn't keep it going following a first set win in a 3-1 loss on the road to William Penn University.
The Pride were able to use a strong mid-set stretch in the first to build a three point lead after trailing 15-13 to close out the set despite a late rally from the Statesmen to make it a 24-23 set before a CU timeout would led to a block by Kortney Harms and Kaelyn Minich to seal the set win.
William Penn would turn around and produce a mistake free set in the second on their way to a 25-10 win while producing no attacking errors on 22 total attacks for a .636 hitting percentage with 14 kills as Clarke's worst hitting set of nine kills and seven errors on 30 swings for a .067 would combine for the 15-point margin of victory in the set.
WPU would go on to hit for a .302 percentage in the third and a .275 percentage in the fourth with high kill numbers of 18 and 14 respectively while Clarke couldn't regain any of the momentum they had in the first set despite having their highest hitting percentage in a set in the third at .143 with 12 kills and six errors over 42 total attacks.
Three members of the Pride finished with double digit digs including a pair of double-doubles with Mia Jaeger recording just her second double-double of the season with 10 digs and 14 assists while Rachel Haubert produced her sixth double-double of the season with 12 kills and 15 digs with Rylie Bohanan leading Clarke with 15 digs.
Maya Watters led CU with 14 kills, joining Haubert as the only members of the Pride with double digit kills as Mattie Dafforn subbed in on the right side to help provide some offensive support, finishing with six kills and Kelsey NeCollins went 5-for-16 with one error (.250) while leading the team with three block assists.
Clarke will return home to host their final non-conference opponent of the 2024 season when they welcome St. Francis University to the Kehl Center for a 6:00 p.m. CT first serve on Tuesday, Oct. 8 to start a stretch of hosting nine of their next 10 matches.