Fayette, Mo. – The Central Methodist University volleyball team opened up Heart of America Athletic Conference play on Tuesday evening, defeating William Penn University 3-1 inside of Puckett Field House. Final scores were: 25-15, 24-26, 25-18, and 25-19.

With the victory, Central Methodist improves to 15-3 on the season and 1-0 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play. With the loss, William Penn falls to 3-11 overall and 0-1 in The Heart.

The Eagles got off to a fast start Tuesday evening, rolling over the Statesmen 25-15 in the first set. In the second set, William Penn and Central battled back and forth. In the end WPU would prevail, 26-24.

Central Methodist stepped on the gas pedal in the third and fourth sets and never looked back. CMU cruised to 25-18 and 25-19 victories to finish the Statesmen off 3-1.

As a team, CMU made only 10 errors; 15 less than William Penn. CMU also held the Statesmen to a hitting percentage of 10% for the match, while CMU hit close to 36%.

Individually for CMU, Marina Alves (SO/Belo Horizonte, Brazil) led the team with 12 kills, while Samantha Reed (SO/Westfield, Ind.) led the team with 15 digs. Reed also finished as the team leader in assists with 21, one more than Melody Hanson (SR/Spring Hill, Kan.)'s 20 assists.

The Eagles will now have a week to rest, until they host Culver-Stockton College in another Heart of America Athletic Conference match next Tuesday at 7pm inside of Puckett Field House.

For more information about Central Methodist University athletics, visit http://www.cmueagles.com. Follow CMU athletics on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cmathletics and on Twitter twitter.com/cmueagles.