The No. 15 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater volleyball team took down No. 12 UW-Stevens Point 3-2 Wednesday night in Kris Russell Arena in Whitewater.
 
The Warhawks struggled to find their groove offensively in the first set hitting just .056 while the Pointers hit .371.
 
UW-W flipped the script on UW-SP in set two putting the pressure on defensively. The Pointers hit .000 in the set while the Warhawks improved their efficiency and cut back on unforced errors. After dropping set one 25-17, the Warhawks took set two by the same score.
 
Erin McNeil (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge), Kirsten Anderson (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) and Payton Kuepers (Madison, Wis./Lakeside Lutheran) combined for 10 kills without committing an error in set three to lead the Warhawks. UW-W held the Pointers to under .100 attack percentage for the second consecutive set.
 
The fourth was the most intense – a back-and-forth battle. UW-Stevens Point extended the match on the winning end of two controversial match point calls that made it 24-23 forcing a UW-W timeout. A Warhawk error pushed it to 24-24 and the Pointers went on to force the decisive fifth set winning 27-25.
 
The Warhawks jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fifth set before UW-SP battled back to pull within one 10-9. A Pointer service error sparked a run as Whitewater ran off the next five points. For the second point of the run, a UW-SP attack hammered a ball but Morgan Jensen (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) hung in there for the dig. The ball sailed over the net and into the back corner catching everyone off guard for the coveted dig-kill. McNeil followed with a kill of her own before Hannah Proctor (Durand, Ill./Durand) blocked a Pointer attack straight down for match point. McNeil and Proctor teamed up for the final point of the match, another block.
 
McNeil had a career night with 23 kills hitting .353 for the match. She added three assist blocks.
 
UW-Whitewater put the pressure on in service-receive with 15 aces including five from KellyAnn Sotiros (New Berlin, Wis./West Allis Hale) and three from both Jensen and Hailey Mackenthun (Webster, Minn./Northfield).
 
Defensively, Proctor posted six blocks while Jensen and Sotiros shared team-high honors with 25 digs.