Peru State College Athletics

(Peru, Neb)- The Peru State College volleyball team concluded the 2026 regular season with a victory over Heart of America Athletic Conference foe William Penn on Friday night. The Bobcats took down the Statesmen 3-1 with a scoreline of 25-20, 33-31, 22-25, and 25-15.
 
The win takes Peru State to 19-10 overall and 11-9 in Heart action while William Penn falls to 12-19 on the season and 3-14 the Conference slate.
 
The first set would open with a 6-2 home push that saw kills from three different Bobcats to force a Statesman timeout, the next four points would go in favor of the visitors to knot the set at six until a 7-4 series from Peru State would allow them to pull ahead by three (13-10). William Penn would answer by scoring three straight but the Bobcats responded through a 5-2 spurt featuring consecutive kills by Eden Moore (Eagle, Nebraska / Waverly High School) to snap the advantage back to three (18-15), The Statesman could not cut into the lead as an eight-point series would bring the score to 22-19 and force the last timeout from William Penn. Peru State would score three of the next four points to capture the opening set 25-20.
 
Set two saw both teams trading blows as the Bobcats would begin through a 5-2 run before the Statesman found a 5-1 burst to take the lead 7-6, a 3-1 push for Peru State would take a one-point advantage before a 3-0 spurt would see William Penn hold a two-point lead (11-9). The Bobcats would score five of the next six (14-12) before the Statesman utilized a 7-2 run to force a Peru State timeout (19-16), The Bobcats could not cut into the lead as a 10-point stretch would see William Penn reach set-point 24-21, but back-to-back kills by Moore followed by a service ace from Shealie Wiebers (Papillion, Nebraska Papillion-La Vista High School) would knot the score at 24. Both teams battled for positioning in a 13-point series that saw six ties and four lead changes to but the score at set-point for the Statesman (31-29), Peru State would respond with a kill by Alexus Ford (Alma, Kansas / Wabaunsee High School) to even the score at 31 before an error by the visitors followed by a kill from Wiebers would steal the second set away 33-31.
 
An 8-3 burst in favor of William Penn would start the third set before the Bobcats would score four of the next seven to cut the lead to four (11-7), the Statesman would find a 5-1 run to extend the advantage to eight (16-8) before a 9-4 run from Peru State would slice the lead to three (20-17). William Penn would find a 3-1 push to extend the advantage to five (23-18) until Peru State would score the next three straight to cut the edge down to two (23-21), the Statesman responded through a 2-1 stretch of play to win the third set 25-22.
 
The fourth set would see both teams fight for the lead before a 4-2 run from the Bobcats would take a three-point lead (11-8), back-to-back scores from William Penn would drop the lead to one before an 8-2 run would pull Peru State ahead by nine (19-12). The Statesman would find the next three to shorten the lead to four (19-15), but a service ace from Lydia Boyce (Omaha, Nebraska / Mercy High School) would spark a 6-0 stretch which ended with Addison Schneider (Humphrey, Nebraska / Humphrey High School) stuffing a William Penn attack to win the set and the match 25-15.
 
Moore paced the Bobcat offense with 13 kills while Wiebers and Brinley Falkinburg (Lincoln, Nebraska / Lincoln East High School) both tagged nine, Teodora Bulatovic (Tivat, Montenegro. / SMŠ "Mladost" Tivat) totaled 26 assists while Samatha Chesley (Lincoln, Nebraska / Pius X High School) put up 16. Boyce sent over a career-high four service aces while Braelyn Braithwaite (Elkhorn, Nebraska / Elkhorn South High School) would notch three.
 
The defense saw six players record double-digit digs as Braithwaite would lead the way with 22 and Bulatovic would put up 19, Wiebers recorded 16 digs while Chesley would total 14 and Falkinburg saw 13, Moore would round out the list recording 10 digs on the night. Chancie Deaton (Payson Arizona / Payson High School) spearheaded the blocking efforts with three solo blocks while Schnieder followed with two.
 
Peru State volleyball will be watching the Saturday games across the conference closely as the chance for playoffs is still alive.