UW-Whitewater, ranked eighth in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III poll, split its matches on day one of the Simpson Invitational, hosted by Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa Friday.  St. Olaf, ranked fourteenth in the AVCA III poll, defeated UW-Whitewater 3-1 (25-20, 17-25, 32-30, 25-23), and UW-W came back later Friday to defeat Gustavus Adolphus College (MN) 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-10). 

The Warhawks have played ten matches against ranked opponents this season and have gone 5-5 in those matches.  UW-W is 20-6 overall while St. Olaf improves to 20-4.  Gustavus Adolphus is 6-14.

Saint Olaf match box score

Gustavus Adolphus match box score

Each game went to the team that hit, at least percentage wise, better.  The first game the Ole's hit .300 to the Warhawks' .182.  Game two fell in favor of the Warhawks who hit .261 to St. Olaf's .054.  Game three, the highest scoring game in the match, was a bit closer in terms of percentage but St. Olaf hit .184 to the Warhawks' .153.  The final game was largely in favor of St. Olaf as they recorded a hitting percentage of .237 as opposed the UW-W's .045.

Christina DeGroot (Kewaskum/Kewaskum) dished out 54 assists in the match to go along with three service aces and eight digs.  Sofia Sanchez (Janesville/Craig) was on the receiving end of those assists, pounding down 15 kills.  Caitlin Hogan (New London/New London) and Katy Krajnak (Racine/Case) each notched 13 kills, while Shaela Hayden (Harvard, IL/Harvard) tallied ten.  Defensively it was again Alyssa Bauer (Naperville, IL/Central) leading the way with 26 digs.

UW-W had eight total service aces to only two for St. Olaf, and they recorded eight total team blocks.  UW-W recorded 13 more kills (62-49) than the Ole's in the match.

Whitewater's hitting numbers improved in the win over Gustavus, with UW-W going .222, .346, and .371 in the sweep.  Sanchez and Krajnak led with 13 and 11 kills, respectively, with Krajnak hitting .733.  Bauer led in digs again, with 15, and she added a match high three service aces.  DeGroot passed for 33 assists.  

The Warhawks will continue play in the Simpson Invitational Saturday, facing Wartburg College in the morning and host Simpson in the final match of the day.  

UW-W's next home appearance will be their final home invitational of the 2010 season, beginning with matches against Finlandia University at 3:00 and Luther College at 7:00 Friday, October 29.  Those matches will be in the Kris Russell Volleyball Arena in Williams Center on campus.

For additional information, Stacy Boudreau, UW-W coach