box score
photo credit Greg Smith

Kelly Sorensen (Madison/Memorial) in Win Over Cobbers" src="/images/wvball/2007/11/8/SorensonNCAA1.jpg" />UW-Whitewater opened play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Volleyball Championship Tournament with a 3-0 (30-26, 30-23, 30-22) first round win over Concordia-Moorhead Thursday afternoon at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota.  UW-W, 32-4, advances to the regional semi-final Friday at 4:30 against the winner of a first round match between Bethel University (MN), 22-10, and The College of Saint Benedict (MN), 22-10. 

The largest margin for either team in game one was four points.  The game was tied 25-25, Whitewater went on top 28-25, and after a C-M point Abby Schultz (Appleton/Kimberly) and Carley Polk (Dousman/Mukwonago) closed the game with kills for the Warhawks.

Whitewater jumped ahead 11-4 in game two, and maintained margins of 16-6, 20-9 and 23-11.  The Cobbers came back to cut the margin to 23-16, but Whitewater seemed to want to run out the game at 28-20.  Again Concordia came back, adding three points to make it 28-23, but Polk and Sarah Theis (Lodi/Lodi) picked up the final two points for the win.

Whitewater slowly built a lead in game three, upping the margin to 20-15 and closing with the largest margin of the contest.

Schultz led UW-W with 14 kills and 18 digs, while Polk contributed 13 kills and a .346 hitting percentage.  Kate Lazotte (Stoughton/Stoughton) had 47 assists and 17 digs, and Theis was credited with seven blocks (one solo).  UW-W hit .219 as a team and had just one ball handling error and one service error.

Abby Scheel and Michelle Honek had 12 and 11 kills, respectively, for the Cobbers.  Scheel hit .375, and Anna Tinkham came up with 26 digs.  Concordia-Moorhead hit .169, had five ball handling errors and four service errors.

UW-W, champions of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the WIAC postseason tournament champions, upped their record to 32-4.  Whitewater, ranked eighth in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III poll, won NCAA championships in 2002 and 2005, and tied for third in last year's tournament.  Concordia-Moorhead ends the season 17-11.

regional tournament site