Butch McCartney

It all came down to the final match of the Lisa Siegenthaler tournament for both UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout. The two teams each went into the match undefeated from earlier tournament play.

Eau Claire had previously beaten Augsburg College, (Minn.) 30-27, 30-20 and 30-21. The team hit .265 for the match and had 10 service aces.

Senior Rachel Gullerud had 16 kills and 16 digs, while sophomore Brooke Wozniak scored 12 kills and senior Missy Gehring added 15 digs.

Senior Roxy Wolf was not able to play due to a herniated disk in her back and a hurt knee. Her status is day-to-day, coach Lisa Herb said. She does not know if Wolf will be able to play this week either.

Freshman Becca Carstensen played in her place.

“(Carstensen) did a nice job under pressure, especially offensively,” Herb said.

In the second match, the Blugolds swept Lakehead University (Ontario) 30-14, 30-16 and 30-17. In the third match, it swept UW-Superior 30-14, 30-20 and 30-25.

Gullerud had 11 kills and six digs. Junior Andrea Hemple totaled 38 assists and six digs and senior Abbey Berger tallied six digs and four service aces.

“We came together as a team,” Gullerud said. “We played up to our potential.”

In its fourth match, Eau Claire cruised past UW-Superior 30-14, 30-20 and 30-25. The Blugolds ended this match with an attack percentage of .371.

Gullerud had 13 digs and 11 kills. Hemple finished with 48 assists and Carstensen had an attack percentage of .667.

“We played better than we had,” Herb said. “We played together and set the tempo.”

Besides the players listed above, there were several others that helped the team.

Herb mentioned senior Abbey Berger, freshman Missy Malvitz, and sophomore Julie Bobbe as players who did well.

Meanwhile, Stout swept Lakehead 30-13, 30-12 and 30-27. In its second match it beat UW-Stevens Point 30-22, 30-23 and 30-12. It then swept Viterbo College 30-21, 30-19 and 30-16.

The final match of the tournament resulted in Stout sweeping Eau Claire 30-23, 30-21 and 30-23. Hemple had 39 assists, and nine digs. Gehring had a .353 attack percentage and eight kills, while Gullerud finished with eight digs and 11 kills.

“We didn’t have the fire,” Hemple said. “We didn’t want it bad enough. There was no momentum.”

Gullerud agreed with her teammate.

“We let them control the tempo,” Gullerud said.

Gullerud and Wozniak were named to the All-Tournament Team. Wolf received the Lisa Siegenthaler Award.

“The award represents Lisa’s qualities of enthusiasm and spirit,” Herb said. “(Wolf) has that. She calms everyone down. She schooled the young minds.”

Herb then presented the first place plaque to Stout.

“It wasn’t hard (to give them the award),” Herb said. “They earned it.”

Eau Claire gets a rematch against Stout on Wednesday.

“It’s an important conference match,” Herb said. “We need to take charge at the net.”

Hemple and Gullerud said that revenge will be a factor in that game.

“We won’t give any bulletin board material though,” Hemple said.