RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) - The Falcons took a set from UW-La Crosse on the road Wednesday night, but eventually lost 27-25, 20-25, 25-14, 25-20 to the Eagles in their first WIAC road matchup of 2018.
UWRF came out to play in the first set, taking an early 7-4 lead on a
Karli Nielsen kill before both teams began to trade points back and forth. The Falcons faced their toughest situation when they went down 23-21 after Rhiana Pochman's fourth kill of the set. However, a block from
Dakotah Poitra and
Corynne Dahl was followed by a
Savannah Brauer kill to give the Falcons set point at 24-23. UW-La Crosse bounced back with two kills and a set error to make it 25-25, and Kathryn Maas recorded a kill to seal the first set at 27-25.
The Falcons quickly trailed 7-2 in the second set after Marissa Johnson had three early kills, but UWRF settled in and went on a 4-0 run to make it 13-9 after three Eagles' attacking errors. Blocks from
Hannah Striggow, Nielsen and
Hailey Huseth helped turned the momentum in UWRF's favor by flipping the score from trailing 11-15 to leading 17-15. Another 4-0 run with kills from Nielsen and Poitra helped extend the lead to 22-19, and
Hannah Robb finished off the set with a service ace to even the match at one set apiece. UWRF was efficient with 12 kills and only two attacking errors in the second set, while the Eagles committed 12 errors.
The Eagles bounced back in the third set by going on a 10-point run after trailing 10-9. UWRF recorded eight attacking errors in the third set while the Eagles only had two. Emma Lawrence had four kills in the set and the Eagles comfortably won the set by double digits. UW-La Crosse jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the final set, which was a lead they would hold the rest of the match. Brauer had three kills in the final set, but the Eagles moved to another level with 16 kills and only four errors. Lawrence recorded her 16th kill of the match to take the final set by four points.
Nielsen led the Falcons with 11 kills and four blocks, and Poitra was second in kills with 10 and first in digs with 21. Johnson had a game-high 17 kills for the Eagles, while Abbey Fox recorded the most assists at 21. UW-La Crosse had 21 more kills than UWRF, but the Falcons finished with more blocks and fewer errors.
UWRF is now 10-9 overall and 0-2 in the WIAC. They will travel to UW-Whitewater on Friday for a 7 p.m. match that will give the Falcons a chance to win their first WIAC game since 2016.
