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The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater softball team split a pair of games Friday on the first day of competition at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament (presented by Culver's) in La Crosse, Wis.
 
Head coach Brenda Volk became the first coach in league history and the 10th active coach in NCAA Division III history to reach 700 career wins as the fourth-seeded Warhawks posted a 5-2 victory against No. 5 seed UW-River Falls in the first game of the tournament. Volk, who is in her 24th year at the helm of the program, entered the 2022 season with a .712 winning percentage, 20th highest among active Division III coaches.
 
UW-Whitewater (20-18 overall) dropped its second game by a 4-0 score against No. 1 seed UW-La Crosse.
 
In the opener, the Warhawks scored three runs in the bottom of the third and added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth.
 
Rhiann Dick (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) and Kate Cleveland (DePere, Wis./Ashwaubenon) combined to allow three hits against the Falcons (17-15). Cleveland improved to 7-5 on the season, allowing one walk on four strikeouts over 3 2/3 scoreless frames in relief.
 
Third baseman Grace Wickman (Wausaukee, Wis./Peshtigo) started the scoring with two outs in the second, knocking a run-scoring double to center. Left fielder Krista Sbarra (West Chicago, Ill./St. Charles East) followed with a two-run base hit to center to increase the advantage to three.
 
After UW-River Falls touched home plate twice in the fourth, UW-Whitewater answered in the fifth as catcher Kennedy Cox (Janesville, Wis./Craig) hit a two-roun double to left center.
 
Cleveland overcame three UW-W errors in the top of the seventh, stranding runners at the corners to preserve the win.
 
First baseman Ally Dietz (Lake Villa, Ill./Lakes Community) reached base three times with two hits and one walk and scored one run. Wickman finished 2-for-3 with one run scored with her RBI and shortstop Meghan Dunning (Plainfield, Ill./South) reached twice with one hit and one walk.
 
In the second game of the day, the Warhawks tallied four hits while the Eagles (26-8) scored in each of their first three at-bats.
 
Dunning, Cox, Wickman and right fielder Sophia Kinjerski (Maribel, Wis./Denmark) registered one hit apiece. Dietz drew one walk for UW-Whitewater, which brought the tying run to the plate but left the bases loaded in the seventh.
 
Dick fell to 5-5 on the year, pitching one inning. Relievers Mallory Hollatz (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township) and Kathryn Kinsella (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) each pitched one inning around Cleveland's three-inning stint.
 
The Warhawks continue tournament play Saturday at 12 p.m. against UW-Oshkosh.