Nicole Robinson

After suffering three straight losses at the hands of WIAC opponents to finish out the conference season, the UW-Eau Claire volleyball team took out some frustration on St. Scholastica (Minn.) Tuesday night at McPhee, sweeping all three games in convincing fashion.

The Blugolds didn’t fall behind the entire night. St. Scholastica managed to hang around in the first game, trailing 11-10 before Eau Claire went on a 20-10 run to win the game 30-20. The Blugolds had little trouble in the next two games, winning both 30-18.

Coach Lisa Herb said the Blugolds’ depth and a fast start were differences that contributed to the victory.

“I thought that we passed well,” she said. “We have a lot of different people that we can go to offensively, and we got on track right away.”

Junior Jenny Wolter paved the way for the Blugolds, contributing three block assists and a team-high 17 kills. She committed only one error.

Wolter said Tuesday’s dominating win might be a kick-start into bigger and better things to come in the postseason.

“I think just because we’ve been struggling a little bit, it’s given us the confidence we needed to show that … we’re a great team,” said Wolter, who leads the team with a .358 kill percentage. “Everyone had great hitting and great passing. All around, everyone just did awesome.”

Junior Molly Menard added 12 kills, four digs and four total blocks for the Blugolds, who improve to 18-8 overall.

Sophomore Carly Freiborg had a team-high 41 assists and also tallied seven digs.

Senior Becca Carstensen, who, along with senior Lindsay Anderson, was playing in her final home game, had nine kills, four service aces and two block assists during the night.

Anderson said she was able to block out the circumstances and play the game like it was no different than any other.

“There was some extra emotion,” she said, “but I just tried to approach it like any other game.”

The ‘Golds have now won 14 straight matches against St. Scholastica and 15 of the last 16.

Herb said the team is recovering from injuries. Wolter was injured while playing against UW-River Falls earlier this year, while Menard is recovering from a twisted knee. The team had six days between matches, and the rest showed.

“We were healthier (Tuesday) than we have been for the last two weeks,” Herb said.

The Blugolds hope to continue their winning ways this weekend at the UW-River Falls tournament. Eau Claire will battle UW-Stout in the first match at 6 p.m. Friday.

After this weekend, the Blugolds head to the conference tournament.

Eau Claire, seeded sixth in the bracket, is slated hit the road Tuesday to take on the UW-Platteville Pioneers.

The ‘Golds already have shown they can win at Platteville, as they defeated the Pioneers in a five-game match Oct. 1.

“We’re using this week to fine-tune and gain some confidence going into our conference tournament next week,” Herb said. “We know that’s going to be tough.”