Box Score The UW-Whitewater volleyball team stayed alive in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship with an exciting 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 25-15, 19-25, 15-10) win over UW-Platteville in the first round. The Warhawks advance to play the number two seed, UW-Eau Claire, in a semifinal matchup in Stevens Point Friday, November 8 at 5:00. 

Neither team got out of the gate quickly Tuesday night in Kris Russell Volleyball Arena. UW-W hit .062 in the first set and the Pioneers posted a .047 attack percentage to open the match but it was the Warhawks who took the 1-0 lead into set two. Whitewater outhit Platteville in the second set with three more kills but Warhawk errors proved costly as the Pioneers evened the match 1-1. 

The Warhawk outside hitters, Lauren Pfeifer (Fort Atkinson/Fort Atkinson) and Staci Hasler (Sheboygan Falls/Sheboygan Falls), got UW-W back on track in the third set combining for 11 of the team's 14 kills in the set without committing an attack error. UW-P flipped the tables again in set four forcing the decisive fifth set. 

Whitewater took a 3-0 lead to force an early Platteville timeout. The Pioneers regrouped and came back to tie the set 4-4. The Warhawks scored four out of the next five to take the 8-5 advantage as the teams switched sides. Platteville pulled within two three times nearing the end of the set but the Warhawks held on for the 15-10 win. 

Pfeifer lead all hitters with 15 kills in the match and Hasler added 13 to the Warhawk total. Kristen Ruchti (Brodhead/Brodhead) pounded down 11 kills posting a .409 attack percentage and added six blocks in the contest. Kim Frei (West Bend/West Bend West) set up the Whitewater attackers 48 times in the five set match. Defensively, Kelsey Nobilio (Johnsburg, IL/Johnsburg) kept the rallies alive with a season high 32 digs marking her fortieth career match with 20 or more digs, tying former Warhawk Alyssa Bauer for the program record. 

UW-La Crosse topped UW-Oshkosh in the other first round match in the WIAC Championship. The Eagles advance to play the top seed, UW-Stevens Point Friday at 7:30 in Stevens Point. For more information regarding the WIAC Championship click here.



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