Box Score St. Paul, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team, ranked 15th on this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 Poll, earned a 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-23) victory over the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) Thursday night in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Regional being played in the Ericksen Center at the University of Northwestern (Minn.).

UWL improves to 23-5 on the season and advances to the NCAA III Regional Semifinal Friday, November 11 at 7 p.m.  The Eagles will face the winner of the St. Norbert College (Wis.)/Northwestern (Minn.) match scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday.  St. Thomas (Minn.), receiving votes on this week's AVCA Top-25 Poll, ends its season at 22-9.

UWL earned its second win over St. Thomas (Minn.) this season after a 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-22) victory September 9 at the Augsburg College (Minn.) Invitational.

With the win, the Eagles earned their first NCAA III Championship victory since a 3-2 (25-22, 17-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-13) win at St. Thomas (Minn.) in 2008.  UWL is now 18-14 all-time in 14 national championship appearances.  The Eagles advanced to the NCAA III Quarterfinals in 2003 and 2004. UWL fell 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-13) to Carthage College (Wis.) in the first round of the 2015 NCAA III Championship.

UWL trailed 9-6 in the opening set when it went on a 13-4 run to lead 19-13.  St. Thomas (Minn.) could get no closer than five points the rest of the set.  The second set was tied 10 times, including 14-14, when UWL scored five of the next six points to take a 19-15 lead.  Ashley Entinger had a pair of kills in the run. St. Thomas (Minn.) cut the lead to 23-22, but back-to-back kills by Stephanie Henk and Ashley Entinger gave UWL the 25-22 win.

"The team came out aggressive and with good energy," said UWL head coach Lily Hallock.  "Being our second year playing in the national tournament we were much more relaxed."

The Eagles never trailed in the third set, racing out to a 10-1 lead.  Henk had three kills in the run. The Tommies responded with a 7-2 run to cut the lead to 12-8.  UWL later led, 19-13, but St. Thomas (Minn.) went on a 8-2 run to force a 21-21 tie.  Henk's kill and a hitting error from St. Thomas (Minn.) gave UWL a two-point lead at 23-21.  The Tommies' Whitney Lloyd and the Eagles' Marisa Johnson exchanged kills to make it 24-22.  After a UWL hitting error cut the lead to 24-23, Ashley Entinger recorded a kill to secure the Eagles' 25-23 win.

Henk and Jill Entinger led UWL with 13 kills each Thursday while Johnson and Ashley Entinger each finished with eight.  Jill Entinger hit .400 (13-1-30) in the match while Ashley Entinger finished at .438 (8-1-16).  Madison Entinger recorded 40 assists as the Eagles hit .202 for the match.

Halle Barnabo led three players in double figures in digs with 22.  Paige Schmidt finished with 13 and Madison Entinger 10.  UWL had 4.0 team blocks with Jessica Jablonski recording three block assists.

"The athletes did an excellent job following the match plan and we had solid contributions across the board," said Hallock.

Lloyd led St. Thomas (Minn.) with nine kills while Taylor Lewis finished with eight.  Katharine Mallak had 22 assists as the Tommies hit .129.  Ellie Meyer had 18 digs. St. Thomas (Minn.) had 9.0 team blocks with Lloyd recording two block assists and four block solos.

UWL returns to action Friday, November 11 in the NCAA III Regional Semifinal at 7 p.m.