The UW-Whitewater volleyball team, ranked eighth in the American Volleyball Coaches Association top 25 poll, topped fifteenth ranked UW-Eau Claire 3-1 (25-22, 24-26, 25-16, 30-28) in Eau Claire Friday night.

Box Score

The Blugolds jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first set but UW-W fought back with a 9-3 run of its own to take the lead 16-14. A 5-1 run from Eau Claire forced a Whitewater timeout down 17-19. The Warhawks refused to give up and pushed to tie the set at 21 forcing a Blugold timeout. UW-W scored four of the next five points despite another Eau Claire timeout to take the set 25-22.

Whitewater took hold of the lead throughout most of set two until a 7-1 UW-EC run put the Blugolds on top 21-20. UW-W was able to regain the lead 23-21 but two quick points for the Blugolds swung the momentum in their favor as EC went on to take set two 26-24.

UW-W came out swinging in the third set putting together two major runs, the first 8-3 and the second 11-4, to put the game out of reach for Eau Claire. The Warhawks rolled to a 25-16 third set win.

With the Warhawks up two sets to one, the entire fourth set was a back-and-forth battle with each team trying to gain the momentum needed to break open the set. UW-EC put together a little run to go up 16-11 forcing a Whitewater timeout. The Warhawks fought back out of the timeout to put the pressure back on the Blugolds going on a 12-6 run to take the lead 23-22. After all timeouts for both teams had been expended the score was tied up at 23 apiece. Both teams traded points for the next 10 points until Whitewater found an opening taking the last three points of the set to win 30-28.

Katy Krajnak (Racine/Case) led UW-W at the net with 26 kills in just 40 attempts. The mark ties Krajnak for twelfth in the UW-W record book for kills in a match. Sofia Sanchez (Janesville/Craig) joined Krajnak in double figure kills with 14. Libero Alyssa Bauer (Naperville, IL/Central) moves up to tie for the top spot in the UW-W record book in the matches with 20 or more digs category posting 24 in the contest, her thirty-third career match with 20 or more digs.

UW-W improves to 10-1 on the season including a 2-0 mark in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. UW-EC falls to 7-3 overall posting a 1-1 WIAC record.

Whitewater's next match-up is scheduled for Saturday, September 18 on the road against UW-Superior at noon. The Warhawks return to Whitewater to face Robert Morris Tuesday, September 21 at 7:00 pm.

For additional information: Stacy Boudreau