box score
UW-Whitewater advanced to the regional final of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Championship Tournament with a 3-0 (30-24, 30-28, 30-11) win over Bethel University (MN) Friday evening at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota. 

       photo courtesy of Greg Smith

UW-W, 33-4, is now among the final sixteen teams in the national tournament.  The Warhawks will face the host school, Saint Thomas, 27-4, or Central College (IA), 27-8, Saturday at 7:00 in Saint Paul for the regional championship.  The regional champion will join seven other regional winners at the final eight November 15-17 at the Shirk Center at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.

In game one, Bethel pulled within 22-20, but Whitewater scored four in a row to take control the rest of the way. 

Game two saw Whitewater lead 24-19, but Bethel came back to take a 27-26 lead.  UW-W tied it at 27-27, but a service error gave Bethel a 28-27 lead before the Warhawks closed it out with three straight points.

Bethel never led in game three.

Kelly Sorenson (so, Madison/Memorial) led UW-W with 13 kills.  Abby Schultz (Appleton/Kimberly) (sr, Appleton/Kimberly) added 12 and Rebekah Nelson (Delavan/Williams Bay) (sr, Delavan/Williams Bay) hit .318.  Schultz also contributed 18 digs, and Kate Lazotte (Stoughton/Stoughton) (sr, Stoughton) chipped in with 40 assists and 12 digs.  Kristina Conlin (Williams Bay/Williams Bay) (so, Williams Bay) had a match-high five service aces.

Bethel, which ends the year 24-9, was led by Liz Glesne's 14 kills.  Joslin Geisler had 20 digs, and Jennifer Stoa hit .312.

Whitewater hit .228 in the match and Bethel .078.  Both teams had four service errors, but UW-W had three reception errors to seven for Bethel, and the Warhawks had just two ball handling errors to six for BU.

The Warhawks earned the berth in the NCAA tournament by winning the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference post-season tournament.  UW-W defeated Concordia-Moorhead (MN) 3-0 in the first round of the regional Thursday.  Whitewater has won fourteen consecutive matches.

UW-Whitewater is making its sixteenth consecutive appearance in the NCAA III Championship Tournament.  The Warhawks won the 2002 and 2005 titles, and tied for third place last year.

regional tournament site