Fayette, Mo.–The Statesmen volleyball team was seeking to avenge a loss two weekends ago, but came up short on the road in a 3-1 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss to Central Methodist Tuesday.

William Penn (3-11, 0-1 Heart) lost by scores of 15-25, 26-24, 18-25, 19-25.  The navy and gold had previously lost to the Eagles (15-3, 1-0 Heart) on September 3; that loss came as a sweep, so by taking a set Tuesday, WPU certainly showed improvement.

The visitors failed to do much in the opening set, but were much stronger in the second go round to even things up.  CMU held the upper hand in the end, however, to hand WPU a loss in its Heart opener.

Claire Simmons (So., Williamsburg, Iowa, Psychology) had her name called quite often Tuesday, tallying 13 kills during a 47-attack night.  She also served up one of her squad’s three aces.

Savanna Hartman (Sr., Morgan Hill, Calif., Psychology) was in double figures as well with 10, whileShawni Wills (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Biology) added six winners.  Lilly Martinez (Sr., Oakland, Calif., Psychology) contributed just five kills, but managed those in only 12 tries for a team-best .333 attack clip.

Kathleen Steffen (So., Vinton, Iowa, Biology), with 21 assists, and Haley Smith (So., Adrian, Mich., Elementary Education), with 17, were fairly even in the two-setter formation.

Ashley Miller (So., Kalona, Iowa, Exercise Science) topped the Statesmen defense with 17 digs.

“We continue to have plenty of good moments, but unfortunately there are far too many bad ones as well,” Head Coach Jennifer Carlson said.  “If we want a change at winning these big matches, we need to put it all together for a full match.”

Next Up: William Penn travels to Indianola Thursday to face Simpson in non-conference action at 7:30 p.m.

Story provided by Wade Steinlage