Platteville, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team used a fietsy defense and a strong service game to defeat UW-Platteville in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament (presented by Culvers) quarterfinals.
THE BASICS
Final Score: #
6 seed UW-La Crosse defeats #3 seed UW-Platteville 29-27, 17-25, 26-24, 25-22
Location: Williams Fieldhouse, Platteville, Wis.
Records: UWL 21-11, UW-Platteville 18-12
Next Up: UWL advances to play at #2 seeded UW-Eau Claire on Thursday, November 13. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 pm at the Sonnentag Event Center in Eau Claire. The win marks the first WIAC Tournament win for the Eagles since 2017 when UWL won the WIAC Tournament Championship. #4 seed UW-Whitewater advanced to play #1 seed UW-Oshkosh with a 3-0 win over UW-Stevens Point in the other quarterfinal. Thursday nights winners will advance to the WIAC Tournament Championship on Saturday at the highest remaining seed.
FROM THE SIDELINE
HOW DID IT HAPPEN
- The two teams would trade points early as the first set saw the Eagles take a 10-8 lead but the Pioneers quickly tied it at 10. That trend would continue until the Pioneers would go on a 3-0 run to take a 19-16 lead. The Eagles would respond with a 5-1 run to take a 21-20 lead. With the set tied at 22, the Pioneers would get back-to-back kills to take a 24-22 lead but the Eagles would force a Pioneer hitting error and get a service ace from Kailyn Kurth to make it at 24-24. With it tied at 27-27, UW-Platteville would commit a hitting error to give UWL a 28-27 lead. Maddy Wilson would then record a kill to send the Eagles to a 29-27 first set win.
- The Pioneers would get off to a fast start in set two as they took an early 10-6 lead. UWL would go on a 7-3 run to tie it up at 13-13. The Pioneers would quickly score four unanswered points to take a 17-13 lead and force an Eagle timeout. After UWL cut their deficit to 18-16, UW-Platteville finished the second set with a 7-1 run to even the match at 1-1.
- Leading 8-7 in the third set, UWL goes on a 6-1 run to take a 14-8 lead; however, UW-Platteville would respond with a 7-0 run of their own to tie it at 14. The Eagles would force a UW-Platteville timeout as they scored five of the next six points to lead 19-15. After UW-Platteville tied it up at 22-22, UWL would get a kill from Wilson and a double block by Wilson and Kayla Sexton. The Pioneers would then get back-to-back kills by Grace Rhode and Abby Bauer to even the score at 24-24. Sexton would put the Eagles up one with a kill while a double block by Bella Kottke and Sexton would give the Eagles the 26-24 win in set three.
- The Pioneers would open the fourth set with a 4-1 run but UWL would battle back to tie it at 6-6. The score would remain tied until the Pioneers broke a 10-10 tie with back-to-back points to take a 12-10 lead. A Sexton service ace followed by a Grace Nommensen kill would give UWL a 16-14 lead but the Pioneers would score the next three points to lead 17-16 and force a UWL timeout. A Grace Turlais kill and three straight service aces by Taylor Larson would put UWL back in front 20-17. UW-Platteville would pull within 22-20 but a Wilson kill followed by a Kottke kill would give the Eagles match point. However, UW-Platteville would not go away quietly as they got back-to-back kills to make it 24-22. But that would be as close as the Pioneers would get as Kottke and Yocum teamed up for an assisted block on the final point to send the Eagles to a 25-22 win.
FROM THE BOX SCORE
- The Eagles were led offensively by Wilson with 12 kills while Sexton added nine.
- Turlais and Yocum each added eight kills as well.
- The offense ran through setters Megan Lund and Kailyn Kurth as they finished with 23 and 19 assists respectively.
- UWL's defense had four players in double figures in digs led by Larson with a match high 23 while Sexton added 14. Lund and Megan Jasperson each recorded 12 digs.
- UWL finished with 12 service aces as a team including four each by Larson and Kurth.
