UW-Whitewater defeated UW-Oshkosh 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-6) for third place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament at the McPhee Gymnasium in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The win marks the 200th for Stacy Boudreau in her sixth year at UW-W (200-41, .830).
Box Score
The Warhawks bounced back from a 3-1 loss to UW-Eau Claire in the Friday night semifinal match with a first set win over Oshkosh Saturday afternoon. UW-W jumped out to a 9-3 lead and never looked back. The Warhawks allowed the Titans to close the gap to within four, 23-19, before closing out the set with the next two points.
The Warhawks and Titans exchanged points in the part of the second set, tied at 10-10. Whitewater went on a 5-0 run to take the lead 15-10, but Oshkosh responded with two to bring the score to 15-12. UW-W scored 10 of the next 15 points to seal the deal, 25-17 in set two.
Whitewater scored the last nine points of the third set and held Oshkosh to just six points, the lowest total for a set this season by a Warhawk opponent. You have to go back to September 4, 2009 in Whitewater's 3-1 win over Marian University to find a lower opponent score, with UW-W winning game two of that match 25-5.
The hitting percentages reflected the outcome, with UW-W hitting .300, .344, and .304 in the three sets. Oshkosh hit .179, .115, and minus .192 in the third set.
Katy Krajnak (Racine/Case) had nine kills and a .381 hitting percentage for UW-W. Sofia Sanchez (Janesville/Craig), Caitlin Hogan (New London/New London), and Shaela Hayden (Harvard, IL/Harvard) all added eight kills. Hogan hit .389 and Hayden .333. Hogan led the Warhawks with three service aces of the team's total of ten. Christina DeGroot (Kewaskum/Kewaskum) had 30 assists. Alyssa Bauer (Naperville, IL/Central) had 16 digs, her 100th match with double figure digs, the third highest total in school history. She moved in to fifth place on the single season list with 640 digs.
Andrea Smith and Aleisha Bagin each had seven kills, Robyn Eggert had 13 digs, and Morgan Liebetrau had 19 assists for UW-Oshkosh.
UW-Whitewater, 28-8, will await a bid into the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III tournament. The selections will be announced Monday, November 8. The Warhawks have competed in the NCAA DIII volleyball tournament 18 consecutive seasons, including national championships in 2002 and 2005. Boudreau led the Warhawks to the championship finals in 2005, 2006 and 2007. NCAA III tournament play will begin with eight-team regionals Friday-Sunday (unless religious beliefs prevent a school from playing Sunday, which would move the regional to Thursday-Saturday).
For additional information: Stacy Boudreau, UW-W coach
