THE OFFICIAL ATHLETICS SITE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER

WHITEWATER, Wis. -- The UW-Whitewater volleyball team lost a heartbreaking five-setter to UW-Platteville in a WIAC Tournament Quarterfinal Tuesday evening. The Warhawks took the first two sets 25-20 and 25-17 before the Pioneers won the final three 20-25, 15-25, 13-15.

Stellar defense from both squads forced the opposing offenses to fight for every point. The Warhawks and Pioneers combined for 198 digs in the match led by a career-high and match-high 42 from UWW's libero Natalie Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill./IC Catholic Prep). 

UW-Whitewater used a 5-0 run early in the first to open up a six-point lead, 11-5. The Warhawks led throughout but were challenged late as UWP forced six set points before an attack error finally ended the set. Gaby DiMotto (New Berlin, Wis./West) led all attackers with six kills in 13 attempts without an error. Lawton set the tone defensively with 16 digs in the first set. 

Platteville opened up an early lead in set two but a huge 10-2 run flipped the momentum for Whitewater. Abbie Dix (Brodhead, Wis./Brodhead) and Kylee Altendorf (West Bend, Wis./West) bolstered the run combining for five kills, a solo block and an ace. The Warhawks capped the set on a 5-1 run with the final three points coming on an Altendorf kill, a Lawton ace and finally a kill from Emily Lego (Rock Falls, Ill./Rock Falls). 

Reeling on the momentum from the first two sets, UW-Whitewater jumped out to a 6-1 lead in set three. The Pioneers battled back eventually tying it up 12-12. A 5-0 run later in the set gave UWP a 21-14 advantage leading to the win. Platteville went on to dominate the fourth set to force the decisive fifth. 

The teams traded points early in the fifth but a small 3-0 gave the Pioneers a 7-4 lead. When the gap hit four, 10-6, the Warhawks called timeout. UW-Platteville scored three of the next five to push the margin to 13-8 forcing UWW's second timeout of the set. Altendorf tallied the kill on the other side of the break. The Pioneers responded in kind to make it set point, 14-9, but the Warhawks didn't fold. 

Dix hammered down a kill ... and then another and UWP called timeout as the momentum shifted slightly. UWW went right back to Dix out of the timeout and she pounded down a third consecutive kill to make it 14-12. An overpass was slammed back down by DiMotto in the next rally to make it 14-13 and Platteville stopped the set for the final time. The Pioneers were able to register the final point out of the timeout. 

Dix ended with 20 -- her second 20-kill match in the last three -- while adding five blocks. DiMotto and Altendorf posted double-doubles with 16-14 and 14-15 in the kills-digs columns respectively. Aubrie Krzus (Wheaton, Ill./Warrenville South) had 47 assists, 12 digs and five blocks on the night. Natalie Powers (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) rounded out the Warhawks with double digit digs with 11. 

The Warhawks end 2026 with a record of 17-10. The announcement of the 2026 All-WIAC Teams is slated for later this week.