The Warhawk volleyball team went into the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament semifinal as co-league champions, garnering the number two seed, and captured a 3-2 (18-25, 25-23, 25-19, 17-25, 15-12) win over third seed and fellow conference champion UW-Eau Claire to advance to the WIAC tournament championship match. Top seed UW-Stevens Point defeated UW-Platteville 3-1 in the other semifinal matchup Friday night. UW-W will face UW-SP Saturday at 2:30 pm in Stevens Point with the winner receiving the league's automatic bid into the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III tournament.

Box Score

WIAC Tournament Website

UW-EC came out firing in the first set hitting .325 with 16 kills and just three errors to UW-W's .095 hitting percentage. A 4-0 mid-set EC run gave the Blugolds a five point advantage, 15-10, and a cushion they wouldn't give up. Eau Claire took the first set 25-18.

The teams traded points to start off set two until a 3-0 Warhawk spurt forced an EC timeout with UW-W leading 10-6. The Blugolds rallied back to knot the set at 22-22 and again at 23-23, but UW-W's Leanna Lillge (Ixonia/Watertown) put the final touches on the set with back-to-back kills to give Whitewater the win 25-23 and tie up the match 1-1.

Set three went back-and-forth until a 5-0 Blugold run gave UW-EC a 10-6 lead. Whitewater answered with a 5-0 run of its own with Ariel Johnston (Rockford, IL/Guilford) providing the spark recording back-to-back-to-back kills and teaming up with Lauren Grant (Antioch, IL/Antioch) on a block. Neither team could muster much momentum mid-set until, with a score of 16-15 in favor of Eau Claire, the Warhawks surged to a 10-3 run finish out the set for a 25-19 win and taking the match lead 2-1.

Eerily similar to the first set of the match, the Blugolds hit .344 in the fourth set. A couple of small runs compiled a cushion that UW-W couldn't break through leading to a 25-17 Eau Claire win in set four forcing the decisive fifth set.

After a 3-0 Blugold start in the final set the Warhawks refused to fold, posting five of the next six points to take the lead 5-4. The teams showcased rally scoring for the next 15 points, with the score knotted eight times and four lead changes during that span.

Tied at 12-12, an Eau Claire service error gave UW-W a one point advantage. The next two points may have been the most crucial in freshman Ariel Feiertag (Brown Deer/Brown Deer)'s young career as she pounded down the final two points of the match giving Whitewater the 15-12 fifth set win, the match 3-2, and a spot in the WIAC tournament championship match Saturday.

Lillge led all players with 19 kills, the most for any Warhawk this season and her eighth consecutive match with ten or more. Three other UW-W hitters posted double figure kills including Feiertag and Sofia Sanchez (Janesville/Craig) with 12 apiece, Johnston added 10 and had seven blocks (one solo, six assisted) in the contest. Kim Frei (West Bend/West Bend West) dished out 50 assists in the match.  Libero Kelsey Nobilio (Johnsburg, IL/Johnsburg) recorded a match high 23 digs and Sanchez added 10 for her sixteenth (kills-digs) double double of the season.

UW-W is 25-7 this season and UW-EC falls to 21-12. Whitewater is ranked twenty-first in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.

For additional information: UW-W coach Stacy Boudreau