Bloomington, Ill. -- The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater volleyball team swept Coe 3-0(25-21, 25-11, 25-15) in the First Round of the NCAA Division III Championship Thursday morning. With the win, the Warhawks advance to face Calvin in the NCAA Regional Semifinal scheduled for Friday at 4:30 PM at the Shirk Center.
UW-Whitewater led the majority of the first set using a four-point, mid-set run to take a 15-11 lead.
Emma Bludgen (Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley) assisted on a pair of blocks while
Abbie Dix (Brodhead, Wis./Brodhead) hammered down a kill to bolster the run. The Warhawks held at least a two point advantage the rest of the way.
Emily Lego (Rock Falls, Ill./Rock Falls) and Dix had a phenomenal start to the match. The right side - middle duo each hit .417 to combine for 11 of UWW's 14 kills in set one. Lego led the way with six while Dix added a pair of blocks.
UWW ran away with set two 25-11 paced by an efficient offensive attack -- UW-Whitewater hit .464 as a team in the set. This time it was the outsides, Bludgen and
Gaby DiMotto (New Berlin, Wis./West), with half of the Warhawk kills in the set.
Delaney Ward (Kaukauna, Wis./Kaukauna) came in late in the set and pounded down a pair of kills for the Warhawks' final points of the set.
Five consecutive kills for UWW in set three opened up a 15-10 Warhawk lead and forced a Kohawk timeout. After another run of kills from Dix,
Aubrie Krzus (Wheaton, Ill./Warrenville South) and
Amanda Hillmann (Cedarburg, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran), UWW's lead grew to 21-12 as Coe called their final timeout of the match. UW-Whitewater never looked back closing out the set and the match to punch their ticket to the semifinal.
UW-Whitewater's offense was efficient hitting .371 bolstered by a .500 attack percentage in the third set. UWW tallied just eight attack errors in the entire match. Lego hit .417 in the match with 12 kills. Dix had her way at the net hammering down 11 kills without a single attack error (.524 attack percentage) while adding five blocks.
Krzus ran the offense setting up Warhawk hitters for 33 assists adding five kills and four blocks. Defensively,
Kylee Altendorf (West Bend, Wis./West) and
Natalie Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill./IC Catholic Prep) shared team-high dig honors with 11 each.
Friday's semifinal match marks the fifth consecutive NCAA Second Round appearance for the Warhawks.
