Butch McCartney

The UW-Eau Claire women’s volleyball team finished 2-2 in the Lisa Siegenthaler Memorial Tournament this weekend at McPhee.

The other teams competing were UW-River Falls, UW-Stout, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Superior, which are all WIAC schools.

Friday night, the women opened play against Stevens Point with a convincing three-game win.

Juniors Brooke Wozniak and Annie Kabat led the way for ‘Golds offensively in the win.

Wozniak finished the match with 11 kills and 22 total attacks. Kabat collected nine kills and an impressive .643 hitting percentage.

The second match of the night, against Stout, was a little different. This time the Blugolds were the team swept in three games.

“I was really disappointed after the Stout match,” coach Lisa Herb said. “We didn’t put up a fight.”

Saturday followed suit with Friday as the women won the first match of the day and lost the second. In the first match, the Blugolds beat Superior in three games.

Kabat led all Blugolds with 15 kills. Sophomore Becca Carstensen also had a strong match with 11 kills.

Senior setter Andrea Hemple piled up 41 assists and eight digs on the weekend.

The second match of Saturday matched the Blugolds against the River Falls Falcons. Eau Claire won the first game of the match but then lost the next three.

Junior Julie Bobbe led all Blugolds with 48 total attacks and 16 digs.

Bobbe was recognized for her efforts in the tournament with the Siegenthaler Memorial Award.

The award is given to the player who shows the most heart, determination and hustle.

“We are all really happy for her,” Wozniak said. “She does deserve it.”

Wozniak and Kabat were also recognized as they were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Mental toughness has been the persistent problem hanging around the women this year, Herb said.

“Mental toughness is what we need to work on,” Herb said. ” During the River Falls match I asked each player to improve a little bit, get a little bit tougher.”

Wozniak feels the same way.

“We were up and down,” she said. “Sometimes we played well and other times we weren’t in it mentally.”

A factor to the women’s inconsistent play could be the conference they play in.

“We have the deepest conference in the country, no question about it,” Herb said. “Teams could get beat by seven, eight or nine teams.”

An example of this was on Saturday when Stevens Point, who has only won three matches this year, defeated the 14-3 Stout Blue Devils.

Next up for the Blugolds is a home match against UW-Oshkosh.

“We get to focus on one match,” Herb said. “If we play consistently and are mentally tough, we should do fine.”