Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team opened its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) season with a 3-2 (19-25, 18-25, 25-17, 25-21, 15-13) victory over UW-Eau Claire Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 9-4 overall and 1-0 in the WIAC while the Blugolds, also playing their conference opener, fall to 10-6 overall and 0-1 in the WIAC. With the victory, UWL matches its win total from last season (9-18). The Eagles earned their third win in the last nine meetings with the Blugolds. UW-Eau Claire is receiving votes in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 Poll.
The opening set was tied 9-9 when UW-Eau Claire scored six of the next seven points to lead 15-10 after Laney Lovell's kill. The Eagles cut the deficit to 15-12, but could get no closer the rest of the set. Set two was tied 13-13 when the Blugolds went on a 5-1 run to lead 18-14. UWL could get no closer than three points the rest of the way.
UWL used a 7-1 run in the third set to take a 12-6 advantage after a UW-Eau Claire hitting error. The Blugolds cut the lead to 15-12 before the Eagles scored three of the next four points to lead 18-14. The Eagles led 10-6 in the fourth set and later took a 17-10 margin on a
Jill Entinger kill. UW-Eau Claire came back to trail 20-19, but back-to-back kills from
Ashley Entinger and
Leah Putzier gave UWL a 22-19 lead.
The Eagles trailed 7-5 in the fifth and deciding set before scoring four straight points.
Jill Entinger recorded one kill and
Stephanie Henk two in UWL's run. UW-Eau Claire trailed 14-10 after Henk's kill, but the Blugolds scored three straight points to cut the margin to 14-13. UWL earned the victory on a Katrina Raskie service error.
Henk led UWL with 22 kills Wednesday, hitting .341 (seven errors, 44 attempts) while
Ashley Entinger and Putzier each totaled 14 kills.
Jill Entinger finished with 10 kills.
Madison Entinger totaled 36 assists with
Jaclyn Barrette recording 19. The Eagles hit .172 as team.
Danica Johnson led four players in double figures in digs with 19 while
Paige Schmidt registered 17. Putzier totaled 11 digs and Barrette 10. UWL had 9.0 team blocks Wednesday with
Jill Entinger finishing with five blocks assists.
Emily Miller led UW-Eau Claire with 10 kills while Raskie finished with seven. Lovell, Keagan Kinsella and Kelly Riesgraf each had six. Jenna Smits finished with 32 assists as the Blugolds hit .069 for the match.
Raskie and Talia Jaskulske led UW-Eau Claire with 19 digs each with Smits recording 12. The Blugolds had 16.0 team blocks with Riesgraf finishing with two block solos and 10 block assists.
UWL returns to action Saturday, September 26 with two matches in Elmhurst, Ill. The Eagles face Augustana College (Ill.) at 12:30 p.m. and Wheaton College (Ill.) at 3 p.m.
