Box Score The UW-Whitewater volleyball team fell to regional host Elmhurst College 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-11) in the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III tournament in Elmhurst, Illinois Saturday night. The Warhawks, who beat Elmhurst twice earlier this season, end their season with a 26-12 record. 

The Bluejays jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first set. The best UW-W could do the rest of the way was a four point deficit, which is how the set ended, 25-21. 

Brittney Langley (Winnebago, IL/Winnebago) provided an offensive spark for the Warhawks in set two, pounding down five kills and recording two service aces in a 25-20 Whitewater win to even the match score. The Warhawks held EC to a .049 attack percentage in the set. 

Set three followed suit with Leanna Lillge (Ixonia/Watertown) notching five kills in a 25-23 Warhawk win. This time UW-W held the Bluejays to a .000 attack percentage allowing 13 kills, but forcing 13 errors. 

Whitewater hit just .083 in set four with 11 kills and eight errors. Elmhurst continued to increase their block total, with three in the set, to force the decisive fifth set after a 25-20 win.

The fifth set started off with a bit of drama. Ariel Johnston (Rockford, IL/Guilford) looked to put the Warhawks on the board first with a kill but the point was taken away and awarded to EC after a rotation error was called post-play. Elmhurst scored three of the next four taking a 4-1 lead and forcing a UW-W timeout. Whitewater came back with four straight to take a 5-4 lead, but EC brought the momentum back to their side with four of the next five points. The Warhawks came to within two, 11-9, to force an EC timeout, but the home crowd surged as the host school recorded five of the next seven points to win the set 15-11 and the match.

Lillge posted 19 kills in the match, her thirty-first match this season with double figure kills. The outside hitter was joined in double digit kills by Langley with 13 and Kristen Ruchti (Brodhead/Brodhead) with 11. Libero Kelsey Nobilio (Johnsburg, IL/Johnsburg) recorded 28 digs in the match and was joined in double figures by Lillge with 18 and Kim Frei (West Bend/West Bend West) with 14. Johnston posted five total blocks, three solo and two assisted, in the contest.

Elmhurst advances to the regional final against Washington University-St. Louis in a match to be played Sunday afternoon in Elmhurst, Illinois.


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