River Falls, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team fell 3-2 (15-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23, 15-9) at UW-River Falls Wednesday night in Don Page Arena. The Eagles drop to 8-10 overall and 0-4 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Falcons improve to 14-10 overall and 1-3 in the conference.
After UW-River Falls scored the first point of the match, UWL went on a 9-4 run to lead 9-5. The Falcons cut the deficit to 11-7, but the Eagles used a 6-2 run to lead 17-9 after a
Abbey Fox kill. UW-River Falls could get no closer than six points the rest of the set.
Sophie Quelle had a team-high 32 digs.
UW-River Falls took a 7-3 lead in the second set and later led, 21-13. UWL went on a 10-2 run to force a tie at 23-23, but UW-River Falls scored the final two points of the set.
The third set was tied eight times, including 10-10. The Eagles scored the next five points to lead 15-10 before the Falcons later cut the deficit to 20-18. A pair of kills from
Emma Lawrence and one from
Liz Lansink gave UWL a 23-18 advantage. After UW-River Falls cut it to 23-20, the Falcons had a pair of attack errors to give the Eagles the win.
UW-River Falls led 24-18 in the fourth set when UWL scored five straight points to make it 24-23. The Falcons secured the win after an Eagles' service error.
In the fifth and deciding set, the Falcons raced out to a 10-3 lead. The Eagles could get no closer than five points the rest of the set.
Lawrence led UWL with 22 kills while
Caitlin Griffin finished with 11 and
Laine Hoeffel nine. Fox recorded 48 assists as the Eagles hit .207 (61-23-184).
Sophie Quelle led five players in double figures in digs with 32.
Courtney Conway finished with 20 digs while Fox totaled 13, Lawrence 12 and
Isabelle Jensen 10.
UWL had 6.0 team blocks.
Mallory Griffin led UW-River Falls with 16 kills with Dakotah Poitra finishing with 13 and Katie Koerper with 12. Haley Cuba had 36 assists as the Falcons hit .178 (59-24-197). Hannah Robb had 29 digs while Poitra had 15. Cuba and Griffin each had 10.
UW-River Falls totaled 8.0 team blocks.
UWL returns to action Friday, October 11 at the UW-Whitewater Classic. The Eagles face Illinois Wesleyan University at 3:30 p.m. Action continues Saturday, October 12 as UWL plays Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) at 10 a.m. and Millikin University (Ill.) at 3 p.m.
