Box Score The Warhawk women's volleyball team topped the Blugolds of UW-Eau Claire 3-1 (25-23, 17-25, 29-27, 25-14) in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship semifinal in Stevens Point, Wisconsin Friday night. UW-Whitewater will play top seeded UW-Stevens Point at 2:30 Saturday afternoon.

The Warhawks beat the Blugolds at the net with better attack and blocking numbers in the match. UW-W posted 55 kills and hit .245 compared to Eau Claire's .157 attack percentage and 51 kills.

In the first set, Lauren Pfeifer (Fort Atkinson/Fort Atkinson) opened and ended the scoring for the Warhawks. She opened the match with a kill to put UW-W on the board first. A close set all the way through, the score was tied for the seventh time in the opening set, 19-19 before Whitewater posted five of the next six points to take a 23-20 advantage. UW-Eau Claire pushed for the next three points to knot the score 23-23 but Pfeifer gave UW-W the win with a kill followed by a service ace.

The Blugolds fought back in the second set hitting .323 with 13 kills compared to Whitewater's .182 attack percentage. UW-EC evened the match at 1-1 taking set two 25-17. 

The Warhawks trailed 7-1 in set three when head coach Stacy Boudreau called a timeout to regroup. UW-W went on a 10-4 run out of the timeout to tie the score 11-11. The Blugolds turned the tables on UW-W, compiling an 8-1 run to push the lead to 20-13. Whitewater refused to fold, even trailing 24-21, the Warhawks battled back to force three set points and tie the score 24-24. The teams traded points until a block by Ariel Johnston (Rockford, IL/Guilford) and Brittney Langley (Winnebago, IL/Winnebago) put UW-W up one, 28-27 and a Blugold error gave Whitewater the win and 2-1 advantage in the match.

UW-W was firing on all cylinders in the fourth set hitting .440 while holding the Blugolds to a .085 attack percentage. The Warhawks posted four blocks in the set leading the way to the 25-14 set and 3-1 match win.

Four Warhawks hit in double figures led by Kristen Ruchti (Brodhead/Brodhead)'s 13. Langley added 12 kills and four block assists. Pfeifer and fellow outside hitter Staci Hasler (Sheboygan Falls/Sheboygan Falls) posted 11 kills. Pfeifer made it a double-double adding 11 digs in the match. Kelsey Nobilio (Johnsburg, IL/Johnsburg) was one of four Warhawks in double digit digs with 15. Kim Frei (West Bend/West Bend West) recorded 11 digs to go along with 44 assists and Jaclyn Krizka (Roscoe, IL/Hononegah) also had 11 digs. 

The winner of the WIAC Championship receives the league's automatic bid into the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Tournament.



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