The Falcon volleyball team is now 2-0 in WIAC play after beating UW-Platteville, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon at the Karges Center.
The Falcons won in three straight - 25-22, 25-23, 25-21 to improve to 7-7 overall.
"I thought we did a really good job of passing today - our serve receive was strong," said Falcon Coach
Patti Ford after the match. "Another great thing was that we were able to win those chaotic points - forcing our opponent to make errors."
In the first set the Falcons jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but UWP came back later to score three straight points and take a 17-16 lead. UWRF called a time out and scored the next two points to go ahead, 18-17. The teams battled back and forth and with the score tied 22-22, the Falcons scored three straight points to win the match.
Set two was much the same with neither team grabbing a huge lead. Basically a one to two point differential throughout the set, UWP had one three-point lead, 20-17. But UWRF scored the next three points to tie the set up at 20. With UWP leading, 22-21, the Falcons scored three straight to lead, 24-22. UWP got its 23rd point before the Falcons won the set with a final point.
UWP took early control of what proved to be the final set. After UWRF scored the first point, UWP went on a 5-0 run to lead, 5-0. THe Pioneers' biggest lead came just later, 11-4. But UWRF found its game and battled back. The Falcons finally tied the set, 19-19 and took the lead, 20-19, scoring three straight points. UWP scored two points to tie the game, 21-21. But the Falcons won the next four points to get the win.
"In a lot of matches set three is a momentum shift and our players handled it very well. We were down but chipped away and got back into the match. That shows that we've improved and a part of the strength of this team," said Ford.
The Falcons have seven players with at least one kill.
Rebecca Gasper led the way with nine and
Lisa Keppers added seven.
Katie Duff and Taylor Fertig each had five.
Raven Klein led the Falcons from her setter position with 28 assists. Defensively
Lexi Pingel led UWRF with 18 digs and
Brianna Muetzel added 12. Keppers had a strong match at the net with two solo and three block assists. Gasper also had three block assists.
The Falcons will next play another WIAC match on Wednesday at UW-Stout. The match starts at 7 p.m.
"Being 2-0 in WIAC is what we wanted," said Ford. "Our goal is to get to the WIAC tourney and going 2-0 on the opening weekend is a strong start. Now we have to keep the momentum going at Stout on Wednesday."
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