Peru State College Athletics

(Davenport, Iowa.)- The Peru State College volleyball team took down Heart of America Athletic Conference member Saint Ambrose in five sets on Friday Night. The Bobcats clawed out the win with set scores of 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 18-25, and 15-11.
 
The victory rises Peru State to 13-8 overall and 5-5 in Heart action while Saint Ambrose drops to 5-16 overall and 3-7 in Conference play.
 
The first set began with a 7-1 Saint Ambrose stretch to force a Bobcat timeout, Peru State came out of the timeout and used runs of 7-2 and 5-2 to claim the lead 13-11. An 8-2 run highlighted by three Chancie Deaton (Payson, Arizona. Payson High School) kills extended the lead to eight (21-13), the Fighting Bees would find a 5-2 run to cut the lead to five until a Saint Ambrose error led to set point, Saint Ambrose would find one more point but an error from the Bees would give Peru State the opening set 25-19.
 
Neither team could pull away to open the second set as a nine-point series would feature four ties and four lead changes with the Bobcats up 5-4, then Saint Ambrose used a 9-2 push to take a six-point lead until an 8-3 Peru State run cut the lead to one (16-15). The Fighting Bees would score six of the next nine to force a Bobcat timeout (22-18), then Peru State would come out of the timeout and claw back with a 5-1 run that featured a service ace, kill, and block assist by Shealie Wiebers (Papillion, Nebraska. Papillion-La Vista High School) to knot the set at 23. Back-to-back Saint Ambrose kills would take the second set 25-23.
 
Set three started with both teams trading blows as Saint Ambrose used a 4-1 series to even the score at 11, some more back and forth play let to the set being knotted at 15 until three straight Bobcat kills would take a three-point advantage and force a timeout from the Fighting Bees (18-15). Saint Ambrose came out of the timeout with a 5-1 spurt to capture the lead 20-19 then Peru Sate responded with their own 5-1 stretch to force set point (24-21), the Fighting Bees would score two more times to cut the lead to one until a Saint Ambrose error would win the Bobcats the third set 25-23.
 
The Fighting Bees came out swinging for the fourth set with a 6-1 stretch to force a Peru State timeout, Saint Ambrose would keep the momentum as they would find an 8-3 series out of the timeout to extend the lead to ten (14-4). The Bobcats would find runs of 5-2 and 6-3 to slice the lead to four (19-15), but the Fighting Bees would score the next five straight to force set point (24-15). Peru State would score the next three in attempts of a comeback, but a Bobcat error would hand Saint Ambrose the fourth set 25-18.  
 
The Fifth and final set began with neither team willing to budge until after a Saint Ambrose kill would earn them a 3-2 advantage, Peru Sate would score seven of the next nine which was powered by three straight kills by Brinley Falkinburg (Lincoln, Nebraska. Lincoln East High School) to capture a four-point advantage (9-5). Saint Ambrose utilized a 5-2 run to cut the lead to one (11-10) until a 3-1 Bobcat series would bring the game to match point and force a timeout from the Fighting Bees (14-11), Peru State would come out of the timeout and slam down a kill to take the final set and the victory 15-11.
 
Offensively Wiebers paced the Bobcats with 15 kills while Falkinburg notched 14, Deaton would also reach double-digits with 10 kills on the night. Teodora Bulatovic (Tivat, Montenegro. SMŠ "Mladost" Tivat) led the team in assists with 29 while Samantha Chesley (Lincoln, Nebraska. / Pius X High School) would put up 21, Wiebers would also send over a game-high four service aces.
 
Braelyn Braithwaite (Elkhorn, Nebraska. Elkhorn South High School) was all over the floor with a season-high 33 digs while Wiebers matched a career-high with 18 and Falkinburg set a new career-high with 17. Wiebers would also notch one solo block and two block assists while Deaton totaled three block assists.
 
Peru State faces a quick turnaround as they are set to take on Conference foe Culver Stockton tomorrow at 2:00 PM at the Charles Field House in Canton, Mo.