For the week of Nov. 13-15, UW-Eau Claire women’s volleyball played a pair of matches in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) tournament. After receiving a first round bye for being the second seed, the Blugolds faced the UW-La Crosse Eagles on Thursday, Nov. 13.
The last time the two teams faced off was Sep. 24, when the Blugolds defeated the Eagles 3-1 at home. The Eagles were the last team to make the tournament, making them the sixth seed as they had to face the three seed UW-Platteville.
The Eagles pulled off the upset in four sets, advancing to the conference tournament semifinals with a chance to advance to the championship. In the first set on Thursday night, the Blugolds won 25-18.
The Blugolds had 15 kills on three errors, while forcing nine Eagle errors. Five Blugolds contributed a kill in their set victory. In the second set, Eagles continued to struggle with errors, committing eight, while being held to a 0.029 hitting percentage.
While the Eagles struggled, the Blugolds had 14 kills on a 0.323 hitting percentage, winning the second set 25-20. Fourth-year outside hitter Abby Stanwood led the way on offense, securing eight kills with all but one of Stanwood’s kills assisted by first-year setter Alex Kiebel.
Through the first two sets, the Blugolds had four blocks and held the Eagles to a 0.039 hitting percentage. Head coach Kim Wudi said the team worked on their defense in practice throughout the week after allowing a .370 hitting percentage against UW-Oshkosh in their previous match.
“I felt like we had a really good balance across where our blockers were getting hands on balls which allowed us to be able to dig,” Wudi said.
In the third set, the Eagles gained an early lead as they scored four unanswered points after being tied 6-6. An error committed by the Blugolds to get the Eagles their 11th point prompted Wudi to call a timeout.
Wudi said one of her messages to the team during the timeout was that you can’t get the lead back in one swing.
“We can’t even focus on scoring the point, we have to focus on the skill at hand,” Wudi said. “Trust your body, trust what you’ve done in your training and get back to it.”
After the timeout, the Blugolds scored eight unanswered points which was fueled by three kills a piece from third-year outside hitter Norah Erickson and Stanwood. After the Blugolds’ run, the Eagles were never able to close the gap.
An assisted block by the Blugolds earned them the match sweep, as they won the third set 25-20. With the win being their 27th of the season, and having played 30 matches on the season, Kiebel said that playing together as a team helps the Blugolds be who they are.
“I think that a big part of our Blugold culture is being a team and being there for everyone,” Kiebel said. “We’re teammates first, and then we play the game.”
The Blugolds received digs from 11 players, as 14 Blugolds made it onto the court sometime during the game. Wudi said that systematically, versatility is a strength for the team.
“We’re in a very unique situation where we do have the depth and we do have the tools to be able to play different lineups based on how we’re doing, how we’re feeling (and) who we’re playing,” Wudi said.
With the win, the Blugolds earned the chance to play in the WIAC championship versus the number one seed and No.4-ranked UW-Oshkosh Titans on Saturday, Nov. 15. Coming off a bye, the Titans defeated UW-Whitewater in three sets.
After not playing in the Blugolds’ match versus the Eagles, fourth-year outside hitter and All-WIAC first team recipient Bailey Leeke was good to go for the match.
In the first set of Saturday’s set, the Blugolds prevented the Titans from ever holding a lead as they won the first set 25-18. The Blugolds executed 15 kills on 43 total attempts.
Another 15 kill set propelled the Blugolds to a 2-0 match lead, making them just one set win away from their fourth WIAC championship in program history.
The Titans kept their championship hopes alive with 16 and 17 kills in the third and fourth set to send the match into a final set. Through the first 12 points of the deciding set, the match was tied 6-6.
After six Titans kills, a kill from Stanwood brought the Titan lead down to 13-14. On a potential game-tying point, Oshkosh sealed the win with a Maren Motz kill.
After the first two sets where the Titans had a combined hitting percentage of 0.124, in the final three sets their hitting percentage was 0.286. Despite the loss, the Blugolds led both teams in points, kills and aces.
On Monday, Nov. 17, the Blugolds drew St. Mary’s College of Maryland as their opening round opponent in the NCAA Tournament. Despite a 17-14 record, St. Mary’s won the United East Conference Tournament, defeating Penn State Harrisburg in the championship.
The match will be played in Pittsburgh, Pa. on Thursday Nov. 20 at 2 p.m. ET.
Benes can be reached at [email protected]
