Fayette, Mo. - The Central Methodist volleyball program opened up Heart Tournament play with a quarterfinal matchup against No. 3 seeded William Penn Tuesday night in Puckett Fieldhouse. Central outlasted the Statesmen in five sets by scores of; 23-25, 25-21, 25-11, 23-25, and 15-8. 

After falling in the first set, Central rattled off back-to-back wins in the second and third sets, highlighted by a convincing 25-11 victory in set three. However, the Statesmen just edged CMU in the fourth to push the match to a fifth and final set. 

The Eagles jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first seven points of set five. Leading from start to finish, Central ultimately took the set 15-8 to advance to the semifinals. 

Three different Eagles reached double-digit kills, as Jordan Wolfe led the match with 19. Grace Stumbaugh collected 16 kills on 25 swings while Delaney Miller added 10. Callie Henson just missed out on double-digit kills, as the sophomore from Jefferson City, Mo. finished the evening with nine, followed by freshman Annabelle Maassen who collected seven.

Elise Hardesty-Irvin had another stellar outing, dishing out a game-high 48 assists in addition to 12 digs, good enough to earn a double-double. She also picked up two service aces. Krystal Brauner collected a game-high 22 assists, while Hardesty-Irvin and Maassenn each recorded 12 and Avery Hays added 11. 

The Central defense held William Penn to just a .146 attack percentage and finished the match with nine total team blocks. 

The Eagles have advanced to the semifinals of the tournament, and will next travel to No. 1 seeded Grand View University in a rematch of last year's conference championship on Friday, March 5. Gametime has yet to be determined.

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