MOUNT PLEASANT – Once again being extended to the limit, the Iowa Wesleyan College volleyball team again came through when needed in posting a five-set win over William Penn University Wednesday night in a Midwest Collegiate Conference match at Ruble Arena.
The Tigers won the match which included game scores of 25-18, 21-25, 25-23, 20-25 and 15-12. It was Wesleyan’s third straight five-set match win, and also the program’s first time defeating the Lady Statesmen since the 2005 season.
IWC also affirmed its status in the top half of the MCC, improving to 3-2 in conference play (14-10 overall) with three league matches remaining in the regular season. The Tigers also distanced themselves in the standings from Penn, which fell to 1-4 in the MCC, 19-12 overall.
Wesleyan opened strong with a solid win in the first set, with a .286 attack percentage that would be the team’s best performance of the evening. The Lady Statesmen bounced back in the second set, taking advantage of 11 attack errors by the Tigers and pulling ahead late in the set to even up the match.
IWC trailed much of the next set and was behind by as many as five points, but the Tigers finished on a 7-1 run to steal the third set. William Penn tied the match again, though, hitting .213 in the fourth set to set up a deciding final game.
The Tigers gained control of the final set early with some strong blocking at the net, taking an 8-4 lead before the teams switched sides. Penn worked its way back to an 11-11 tie, though, before IWC pulled back ahead. Megan McVey (So.-Fort Worth, Texas) had a kill to put Wesleyan in the lead, Brittany Janz (Jr.-Tonica, Ill.) and Allegra Tennis (Jr.-Madison, Wis.) combined for a big block, and Katie Jammer (Jr.-Green Bay, Wis.) had the final kill to finish the match.
McVey led Iowa Wesleyan with 15 kills, while Jammer, Tennis and B.J. Wagy (Jr.-Cedar Rapids, Iowa) all finished with 11 kills apiece. Kendra Zimmerman (Jr.-Green Bay, Wis.) had 49 assists, Katie Leidl (Sr.-Esterhazy, Saskatchewan) led with 22 digs, and Tennis had seven blocks in the match.
IWC will take the weekend off and returns to play next Wednesday when it travels to Cedar Rapids to face Mount Mercy College for another MCC match. Game time will be 7 p.m.
For more information regarding the IWC volleyball program or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
Box score IWC 3 WPU 2
