Peru State College Athletics

(Canton, Mo.)- The Peru State College volleyball team bested Heart of America Athletic Conference foe Culver-Stockton in sweeping fashion on Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats took down the Wildcats with a scoreline of 25-23, 25-21, and 25-21.
 
Peru State rises to 14-8 overall and 6-5 in Heart action, the win marks the most victories in a season since 2016 where the Bobcats went 32-9. Culver-Stockton drops to 5-18 overall and 1-10 in Conference play.
 
The first set opened with the Wildcats jumped ahead with a 7-2 run to lead by five, Culver-Stockton would maintain the advantage until the Bobcats would score four straight to cut the lead to one (12-11). The Wildcats would find four straight of their own to lead 16-11 but a 7-1 run by Peru State would take the lead for the first time since the first point of the set (18-17). A 4-2 push by the Bobcats would pull the advantage to three (22-19) but Culver-Stockton would find a 4-2 series to cut the lead to one until Shealie Wiebers (Papillion, Nebraska. / Papillion-La Vista High School) would slam down a kill to take the first set 25-23.
 
Set two began with both teams trading points until Peru State utilized a 6-1 series to force a Wildcat timeout (9-5), Culver Stockton found a 3-1 spurt to slice the lead to two (10-8) then a 6-2 Bobcat run featuring three kills and a service ace by Wiebers would pull the lead to six and force the second Wildcat timeout (16-10). Peru State would maintain the lead until a 6-3 stretch from Culver Stockton brought the lead back down to three (22-19) but two kills by Eden Moore (Eagle, Nebraska. / Waverly High School) would force set point (24-19). The Wildcats would find consecutive points in attempts of a comeback, but Moore would find another kill to earn the second set 25-21.
 
After a 4-3 Peru State push would open the third set Culver-Stockton would find an 8-2 run to take a five-point advantage (11-6), the Wildcats would maintain their lead until a Culver-Stockton series of 4-1 would extend the lead to nine (20-11). Peru State would claw back by scoring the next nine which was highlighted by three Samantha Chesley (Lincoln, Nebraska. / Pius X High School) service aces to knot the set at 20, a Bobcat error would give the Wildcats the next point but a string of errors by Culver-Stockton aided Peru State in scoring the next five to win the set and the match 25-21.
 
Offensively Wiebers led the Bobcats with 15 kills on a .522 hitting percentage while Moore notched nine, Teodora Bulatovic (Tivat, Montenegro. / SMŠ "Mladost" Tivat) would pace the team with 17 assists while Chesley tagged on 10 and led the team with three service aces.
 
Defensively Braelyn Braithwaite (Elkhorn, Nebraska. / Elkhorn South High School) would put up 15 digs and Bulatovic found nine while Addison Schneider (Humphrey, Nebraska. / Humphrey High School) saw one solo block and two block assists for three total blocks on the afternoon.
 
Peru State will be back in the Al Wheeler Activity Center on Friday where they take on Heart opponent Mount Mercy.