RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) - UW-River Falls avoided a sweep on Wednesday night but eventually fell to UW-Stout in four sets (25-16, 25-19, 18-25, 25-13). The Blue Devils recorded 17 more kills than the Falcons and had a better hitting percentage in all three sets they won.
UW-Stout went up 12-2 in the first set off three kills from Kara Simonson and the team's two service aces. The Blue Devils would get up by as much as 18-7 before the Falcons worked their way back into the set on a
Hannah Striggow kill. UW-Stout built the lead to 24-13 after kills from Kennedy Strain, and UWRF responded with kills from Striggow,
Dakotah Poitra and
Karli Nielsen. Strain finished with a kill to take the first set 25-16.
The Blue Devils followed up their 17 kills and 3 errors in the first set with 16 kills and 4 errors in the second set, good for a .267 hitting percentage. The second set was much more of a back-and-forth battle, and UW-Stout slowly worked up to a 12-7 lead. Nielsen responded with two kills to make it 12-10, but the Falcons still found themselves in a 23-16 hole after allowing the Blue Devils to go on a 4-0 run. Lexi Nelson had three of UW-Stout's final five points to close out the second set 25-19.
The Falcons avoided a sweep by putting together a game-high .367 hitting percentage in the third set on 14 kills. UWRF went up 7-3 early after kills from Poitra, Striggow and
Mallory Griffin, with Griffin adding an ace as well. The Blue Devils won six of seven points in the middle of the set to take 17-15 advantage, but the Falcons stormed back to win 10 of the last 11 points to take the set. Two kills each from
Corynne Dahl and Poitra and numerous attack errors for UW-Stout helped UWRF clinch the third set 25-18.
UWRF couldn't keep the momentum into the fourth set but still battled early to make it 8-7. The Blue Devils put together an 8-0 run which was aided by three kills from McKylie Hoff to quickly make it 16-7. The teams traded points until a service ace from Amber Ripley clinched the match for UW-Stout.
Simonson had a game-high 19 kills for UW-Stout, and Nelson was close behind with 18. Nielsen had the most kills for the Falcons with 12, while Dahl had a game-high 4 blocks. Steph Cannon had 31 digs for the Blue Devils, and she is second in the WIAC in digs per set.
Hannah Robb finished with 20 digs for the Falcons.
UWRFÂ is now 12-13 overall and 0-4 in the WIACÂ after dropping their 15th-straight conference game. The Falcons will take on UW-Oshkosh at 7 p.m. on Friday at Don Page Arena for the team's home finale in 2018. The Titans are also 0-4 in the WIAC this season.Â
