La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team fell 3-0 to nationally ranked UW-Eau Claire in their Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener on Wednesday night.
THE BASICS
Final Score: #3 UW-Eau Claire defeated UW-La Crosse 25-23, 25-21, 25-21
Location: Mitchell Hall, La Crosse, Wis.
National Ranking: UW-Eau Claire is ranked third on this weeks American Volleyball Coaches Association Top-25 poll.
Records: UWL 5-6 (0-1 WIAC), UW-Eau Claire 8-1 (1-0 WIAC)
Megan Lund
HOW DID IT HAPPEN
- Trailing 4-2 in the first set, UWL scored four straight to take a 6-4 lead. UW-Eau Claire would tied the score at 12-12 but UWL scored five of the next six points to lead 17-13. With UWL leading 20-17, the Blugolds went on a 7-0 run to lead 24-20. However, UWL would not go down easily as they forced two Blugold errors along with a service by Jaiden Lee to cut the deficit to 24-23. After a Blugold timeout, Rachel Johnson gave the Blugolds a 25-23 set one win with a kill.
- The Blugolds would start fast in set two as they built an early 5-1 lead and later extended that to 17-10. A 7-0 run by the Eagles would pull UWL to with in 17-16. The run was sparked by two kills from Ali Dehnicke and Grace Turlais. That would be as close as the Eagles would get though as the Blugolds scored six of the next seven points to lead 24-19. Back-to-back UW-Eau Claire errors would make it 24-21 but it was Johnson again with a kill to give UW-Eau Claire a 25-21 set two win.
- The two teams would trade points early in the third set until UWL scored three straight to lead 13-11. A Sydney Marx kill followed by a UW-Eau Claire hitting error put the Eagles up 19-18. UW-Eau Claire would then go on a 7-2 run to win the third set 25-21.
FROM THE BOX SCORE
- Dehnicke led the Eagles offensively with 12 kills while Turlais added seven and Marx finished with six.
- Defensively, Megan Jasperson had 15 digs to lead the Eagles defense.
- Megan Lund finished with a team high 13 assists while Lexi Champeau added 10.
- Mya Cinnamo and Johnson led the Blugolds with 13 and 12 kills, respectively.
- Blugold setter Alex Kiebel had 20 assists while libero Kaitlyn Erickson finished with 15 digs.
UP NEXT
- UWL will stay home this weekend when they host Edgewood University (Wis.) and Loras College (Iowa) on Saturday, September 26th. The Eagles will play Edgewood University at 12 p.m. and Loras at 4 p.m. Loras and Edgewood will play at 2 p.m.
