Box Score Eau Claire, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team fell 3-1 (23-25, 27-25, 25-16, 25-15) at 12th-ranked UW-Eau Claire Friday night in the McPhee Physical Education Center. The Eagles, receiving votes on this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 Poll, drop to 16-7 overall and 3-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The Blugolds, ranked 12th on the AVCA Poll, improve to 20-3 overall and 5-0 in the conference.
The opening set was tied 16 times on Friday night with neither team leading by more than two points. UW-Eau Claire took a 23-22 lead on a Erika Stensland kill, but UWL scored the final three points on three Blugolds' hitting errors.
UWL took a 13-9 lead in the second set on a kill from
Anna Rossner and later took its largest lead at 19-13 on a
Brianne Korducki kill. The Blugolds went on a 7-0 run to lead 20-19, but a kill from the Eagles'
Emma Lawrence, hitting error from the Blugolds and a Lawrence ace gave UWL a 22-20 lead. UW-Eau Claire later took a 25-24 lead after a Jordan Witzel kill, but Rossner's kill tied the set. The Blugolds scored the final two points to secure the set after an Eagles' hitting error and kill from Arianna Barrett. The second set was tied 13 times.
UW-Eau Claire never trailed in the third set, racing out to a 7-2 lead. UWL later cut it to 14-10, but could get no closer the rest of the set.
The fourth set was tied, 9-9, when the Blugolds went on a 4-0 run to lead 13-9. The Eagles cut it to 17-14, but the Blugolds scored eight of the last nine points to earn the win.
Lawrence led UWL with 16 kills and 13 digs while Rossner finished with five kills.
Gabrialla Johnson and Madison Weisensel each had four kills.
Megan Adams recorded 18 assists and
Jackie Oetterer 12 as the Eagles hit .037 for the match.
Sophie Quelle had 12 digs and
Sydney Fedderly 10. UWL totaled 8.0 team blocks.
Witzel led UW-Eau Claire with 18 kills while Kendra Baierl finished with 11 and Barrett 10. Charlie Nelson finished with 41 assists with the Blugolds hitting .178. Barrett led UW-Eau Claire with 12 digs while Nelson and Taylor Scalia each finished with 11. UW-Eau Claire also had 8.0 team blocks.
UWL returns to action Saturday, October 16 with a pair of non-conference matches in Eau Claire. The Eagles face Illinois Wesleyan University at 11 a.m .and Finlandia University (Mich.) at 1:30 p.m.
