The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater volleyball team secured a spot in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-22) sweep of UW-River Falls Thursday night.
The Warhawks have advanced to the league tournament title match each season since 2012 -- a run of ten consecutive tournaments. This season, they'll head to top-seeded and undefeated UW-Oshkosh (34-0) Saturday, November 11. Match time is slated for 7 p.m. The winner claims the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament. The complete NCAA tournament field will be announced Monday at noon during the selection show available on ncaa.com.
In the WIAC Tournament Semifinal Thursday, UWW jumped out to a quick 11-3 lead in the first set. The Warhawks hit their largest lead, 16-7, before the Falcons battled back. UW-Whitewater held off UWRF despite a series of runs to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Ally Warburton (St. Charles, Ill./North) hammered down the kill for the final point of the set. The outside hitter was phenomenal in the opener pounding down six kills in 13 attempts without an attack error.
The second set went back-and-forth with the teams trading runs. UWW tallied six of seven to take a 23-17 lead before the Falcons scored five in a row to narrow the gap to 23-22.
Jenna Weinfurt (Waukesha, Wis./Catholic Memorial) registered a kill to push the set to match point. A River Falls kill extended the set before Warburton put the finishing touches on it with another kill.
The Falcons held the advantage early in set three before the Warhawks strung together a 7-1 run to take an 18-14 lead. UW-Whitewater held a lead the rest of the way with
Kirsten Anderson (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) and
Payton Kuepers (Madison, Wis./Lakeside Lutheran) capping the set and match with a huge block.
Warburton led a contingent of three Warhawks with double figure kills - she posted 12. Weinfurt registered 11 and Anderson hit .364 with 10. Anderson led UWW at the net defensively with three assist blocks.
Morgan Jensen (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) dug up 25 Falcon attack attempts while putting the pressure on from the service line with three aces.
Aubrie Krzus (Wheaton, Ill./Warrenville South) tallied 28 assists in the match.
