Eau Claire, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team, receiving votes on this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 Poll, split a pair of non-conference matches at UW-Eau Claire Saturday afternoon. The Eagles fell 3-1 (26-24, 25-23, 15-25, 25-18) to Illinois Wesleyan University before coming back to earn a 3-0 (26-24, 25-18, 25-5) win over Finlandia University (Mich.).
UWL is now 17-8 on the year.
The first set was tied eight times in UWL's match against Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans took an 8-7 lead on a Courtney McAuliffe kill, but the Eagles responded with a 6-0 run to lead 13-8.
Liz Lansink had a pair of kills for UWL. Lansink's kill later gave the Eagles a 19-16 lead, but the Titans came back to later tie it at 23-23. After an attack error from Illinois Wesleyan gave UWL a 24-23 lead, the Titans scored the final three points to take the opening set.
UWL led, 7-4, in the second set, but Illinois Wesleyan scored eight of the next nine points to take a 12-8 lead. UWL went on a 7-3 run of its own to force a 15-15 tie after a Titans' hitting error. The Eagles later cut the lead to 19-18 on a
Gabrialla Johnson kill. The set was tied 23-23 on
Emma Lawrence's kill for UWL, but Illinois Wesleyan took the final two points.
UWL raced out to a 9-2 lead in the third set. Illinois Wesleyan cut it to 12-7, but UWL went on an 8-2 run to lead 20-9 on Lansink's service ace. The Titans could get no closer than nine points the rest of the set.
Illinois Wesleyan, 14-10 on the season, scored six of the first eight points in the fourth set. UWL cut the deficit to 13-10 and 16-13, but could get no closer.
Lawrence led UWL with 17 kills while hitting .308 (17-5-39) and finishing with seven digs. Madison Weisensel finished with six kills while Lansink,
Sydney Fedderly, and
Anna Rossner each had five.
Megan Adams recorded 17 assists and
Jackie Oetterer 16 as the Eagles hit .168. Fedderly had a team-leading 12 digs with
Sophie Quelle finishing with 10. UWL had 4.0 team blocks.
Jessica McCall led Illinois Wesleyan with 11 kills while Courtney McAuliffe finished with 10. Madi Corey had 17 assists and Ava Porada 16 as the Titans hit .132. Faith Washko had 15 digs and Corey 11.
Finlandia (Mich.) scored the first five points in the opening set against UWL. The Eagles trailed, 14-9, when they went on a 8-4 run to cut it to 18-17. The Lions took a 21-17 lead and later made it 24-19 on a Joslynn Perala kill. The Eagles scored the final seven points to take the opening set with
Emily Jenewein having two kills.
UWL took a 4-3 lead in the second set on a Lansink kill and would never trail the rest of the set. The Lions cut it to 16-11, but a 5-0 run by the Eagles made it 21-11.
UWL scored the first nine points in the third set en route to the three set victory.
Johnson and
Brianne Korducki led UWL with six kills while Lansink and Meghan Paider each finished with five.
Emily Jenewein had 13 assists and Adams 11. The Eagles hit .304 for the match. Quelle had a team-high 10 digs. UWL finished with 4.0 blocks.
Emily Wilson led Finlandia (Mich.) with five kills. Anna Navarro had 12 assists as the Lions hit .000 for the mach. Briana Portice had nine digs and Perala eight. Finlandia (Mich.) finished with 3.0 blocks.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, October 20 hosting UW-River Falls at 7 p.m.
