La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team fell 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-13) to UW-Stevens Point Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles drop to 13-12 overall and 1-5 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pointers improve to 21-7 overall and 4-2 in the conference.
UW-Stevens Point, receiving votes in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 Poll, snapped a five-match losing streak to UWL with Wednesday's win.
The Pointers raced out to a 6-2 lead in the opening set, before the Eagles cut it to 7-5 on a UW-Stevens Point error. The Pointers led 9-6 when they scored the next four points to lead 13-6. UWL cut the deficit to 15-9, but UW-Stevens Point went on an 8-0 run to 23-9.
Emma Lawrence had a team-high 12 kills.
UWL took a 10-9 lead on a
Caitlin Griffin kill in the second set before UW-Stevens Point took the next three points for a 12-10 lead. The Pointers led 16-14 when April Gehl had three straight kills to lead 19-14. The Eagles could get no closer the rest of the set.
UW-Stevens Point led 4-1 in the third set, but UWL went on a 4-1 run of its own to force a 5-5 tie on a Griffin kill. The Eagles led, 9-8, when the Pointers scored five straight points to lead 13-9. UWL later cut it to 16-12 on a
Emma Lawrence kill, but UW-Stevens Point scored nine of the last 10 points to earn the match victory.
Lawrence led UWL with 12 kills while Griffin had seven.
Abbey Fox recorded 20 assists as the Eagles hit .009 (26-25-106) for the match. Fox had a team-high 12 digs while
Sophie Quelle finished with nine. Lawrence and
Courtney Conway each had seven digs.
Gehl led UW-Stevens Point with 13 kills while hitting .407 (13-2-27). Tara Emme and Maddie Lawson each had eight kills. Emme hit .400 (8-0-20) while Lawson hit .571 (8-0-14). Ellie Adams recorded 30 assists as the Pointers hit .323 (37-6-96). Gehl had a match-high 14 digs while Adams finished with 10. Mazie Nagel had nine digs.
UWL returns to action Friday, October 25 with a pair of matches at Aurora University (Ill.). The Eagles face Edgewood College (Wis.) at 6:30 p.m. and host Aurora (Ill.) at 8:30 p.m.
