Pride fall in straight sets to William Penn in first Heart match

OSKALOOSA, Iowa - Coming off of their season opening win, the start of Heart of America Conference went the way of William Penn as the Clarke University men's volleyball team fell to the Statesmen 3-0 on the road Wednesday night.

WPU earned 25-22, 25-10, and 25-19 set wins to clinch the sweep in their first match of the year to knock CU to a 1-1 start to their 2022 campaign.

The Pride struggled on the attack, finishing with a .082 hitting percentage as William Penn finished with a strong .409 hitting percentage, including going 13-for-15 with one error in the second set for a .800 hitting percentage.

For CU, Tye Ojala and Michael Jenkins finished as the most efficient offensive players in the match as Jenkins led the team with six kills on 16 attempts for a .125 hitting percentage and Ojala didn't commit an error on the attack with four kills on seven attempts to finish at a .571 hitting percentage.

William Penn was led by Ike Papes, who finished with the match-high in kills with 14 on just 18 swings to finish the match with a .611 hitting percentage. Charlie Figy added nine kills with Eli Herro and Landon Krause finishing with six and five respectively and both hitting over .300.

Clarke men's volleyball will be on the road for two more matches this week as they head to Western Iowa this Friday and Saturday for matches against Dordt and Morningside.