UW-Whitewater lost to Wartburg College 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-17) in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III championship tournament Friday afternoon at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

Box Score

Wartburg went on an early 6-1 run to take the lead at 6-4 in game one.  Shortly after a UW-W timeout, a 7-2 run gave the Knights their biggest lead in the set, an eight point difference, 15-7. Wartburg hit the biggest lead mark again at 17-9. Whitewater was able to close to within four, 20-16 at the end of a 6-1 run. The Knights took five of the last six points to go up 1-0 in the match. Wartburg hit .222 and Whitewater posted a -.051 hitting percentage in set one.

The second set went back and forth, trading points until a tie 9-9. Wartburg put together the largest run of the of the set, 9-2, to take the largest lead of the set, 18-11. Whitewater forced a Wartburg timeout after scoring five straight cutting the Wartburg lead to 21-17. UW-W kept Wartburg at set point twice, forcing a Knight timeout as UW-W scored three straight to cut the deficit to 24-23, but a kill by Wartburg's Maddie Forsyth finished the set for Wartburg. The Warhawks took over the hitting advantage in set two recording a .357 hit percentage to the Knights' .243.

Whitewater was within one, 8-7, in the third set, but an 7-1 streak by Wartburg put the Knights up 15-8 and they kept a margin of at least six points the rest of the way.

Whitewater was led by Cailtin Hogan, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year, with a match high 11 kills.  Katy Krajnak (Racine/Case) contributed ten kills and led UW-W with a .562 hitting percentage.  Hogan chipped in with three blocks, Christina DeGroot (Kewaskum/Kewaskum) passed for 26 assists, and Alyssa Bauer (Naperville, IL/Central) was high in digs with 11.

DeGroot had one service ace in the match, which gives a total of 92 for the season, tied for third place in the school record book (Chris Conradt 1987).  Hogan recorded her 60th career match with double figure kills, tied for eighth in the UW-W book (Pam Kane (1986-89).  Bauer, a junior, moved to within one match of the school record for matches with double figure digs, currently shared by Stephanie Everett (1995-98) and Angie Wildish (1999-2002) at 102.

Wartburg's Kamille Van Natta tied Hogan with 11 kills, and Kelly Niemann had nine kills and hit .750.  Van Natta also had 13 digs, and Marissa Shinestine had 12.  The Knights totaled nine blocks.

UW-W, making its nineteenth consecutive NCAA III championship tournament appearance, ends the season 28-9.  The loss to Wartburg is the first in the series history between the two schools, Whitewater now leading 8-1.  The most recent meeting prior to Friday was October 24, 2008 in the Whitewater Invitational.

Wartburg, the automatic qualifier from the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, improves to 24-15.  The Knights will advance to the second round of the tourney, facing the winner of another Friday first round match between Beloit College and Washington University.

For additional information: Stacy Boudreau, UW-W coach