Box Score Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team, ranked 13th on this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 Poll, fell 3-1 (25-21, 17-25, 25-22, 25-23) at 11th-ranked UW-Whitewater Saturday night in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship match (Presented by Culver's). The Eagles drop to 22-5 on the season while the Warhawks improve to 27-6 and earn the league's automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships.
UWL will await word if it has earned an at-large bid to the national championships when the tournament field is announced Monday, November 7 at 11:30 a.m. The Eagles were making their sixth appearance in the WIAC Championship match and first since 2004. UWL is now 1-5 all-time in championship matches, capturing the 2003 title with a 3-1 win at UW-River Falls.
The opening set was tied 19-19 after UWL's
Marisa Johnson's kill, but UW-Whitewater scored six of the final eight points to earn the win, 25-21. The Eagles took an early 6-3 lead in the second set before the Warhawks forced a 7-7 tie. UWL went on a 5-2 run to lead 12-9 after block assists from
Madison Entinger and
Jessica Jablonski. UW-Whitewater cut the lead to 15-14, but a 10-3 run by UWL ended the set.
The third set was tied 10 times, including 18-18, when the Warhawks' Sydney Racky recorded a kill to make it 19-18. UWL could get no closer as UW-Whitewater earned the 25-22 victory. The Warhawks raced out a 9-3 lead in the fourth set, but the Eagles responded after a timeout scoring six of the next seven points to cut the lead to 10-8 after back-to-back block assists from
Jill Entinger and
Ashley Entinger. UW-Whitewater led 19-14 when UWL went on an 8-4 run to cut it to 23-22. A UWL service error made it 24-22 before
Marisa Johnson's kill cut it to 24-23. Racky secured the win with a kill to make it 25-23.
Stephanie Henk led UWL with 16 kills while Johnson finished with 11 and
Jill Entinger nine.
Madison Entinger recorded 40 assists as the Eagles hit .181 (50-22-155).
Halle Barnabo had a team-high 19 digs while
Paige Schmidt finished with 12. UWL had 7.0 team blocks with
Jill Entinger recording one block solo and four block assists.
Lauren Pfeifer led UW-Whitewater with 16 kills while Racky finished with 12. Staci Hasler had 39 assists as the Warhawks hit .175 (52-24-160). Tessa Weber had 17 digs with Brittany Robinson finishing with 14, Elizabeth Tworek 12 and Pfeifer 11. UW-Whitewater finished with 8.0 team blocks as Ashton Doll and three block solos and three block assists.
