RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) - The Falcons were beaten in a dominant performance from UW-Stevens Point by a score of 25-16, 25-18, 25-12 on the road in Stevens Point on Wednesday night.
Dakotah Poitra had a game-high 19 digs for UWRF, including her 1,000th career dig. However, a 41-21 advantage in kills for the Pointers was too much for the Falcons to overcome.
The Pointers jumped out to an early 5-2 lead after two kills and a block from April Gehl. Four kills from the Falcons made it 5-4, but an 8-0 run from the Pointers made it 15-5 after three kills from Rachel Hein and three straight blocks from Hein and Hailey Jarr. A kill from
Hannah Striggow and an ace from
Hannah Robb sparked a 4-0 run later in the set, but the Falcons committed two errors after trailing 23-16 to finish the first set. The Pointers had 14 kills and six errors, while UWRF had only six kills and eight errors for a negative hitting percentage.
UW-Stevens Point moved ahead 7-2 in the second set, but two kills from Striggow made it 7-5. Both teams traded short runs until UWRF only trailed 17-14, but the Pointers used a well-timed 5-0 run on two Gehl kills and one block to go ahead 22-14.
Savannah Brauer,
Abby Petersen and
Karli Nielsen all added kills to keep the set alive, but a kill from Tara Emme closed out the second set at 25-18.
The final set was a one-sided affair with the Pointers assuming control right away to go up 5-1 and 12-5. Kills from Petersen and
Corynne Dahl gave the Falcons some hope, but the Pointers won eight of the next nine points to go ahead 21-9. Four consecutive blocks and two more kills from Gehl was enough to put the game out of reach. The Pointers closed out the match with a kill from Taylor Keenan and benefited from an attack error from Nielsen to finish out the match in a straight-set win.
Gehl finished with 13 kills, and Ellie Adams had 34 assists for the Pointers. Maddie Lawson had eight blocks, and the Pointers had nine more blocks than the Falcons. Brauer had the most kills for UWRF with eight total.
The Falcons are 13-19 overall and 0-6 in the WIAC. They will close out their WIAC season in search of their first conference win at UW-Platteville on Friday night at 7 p.m.
