RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The UW-River Falls volleyball team split a pair of matches on Saturday at Page Arena while hosting a triangular against No. 7-ranked UW-Whitewater and Macalester College.
The Falcons fell in three sets against Warhawks before bouncing back and sweeping Macalester. UWRF (11-18, 1-4 WIAC), remains at Page Arena to host UW-Stevens Point next Wednesday.
#7 UW-Whitewater 3, UW-River Falls 0
During UWRF's first match of the day, the Falcons dropped the first two sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-12, but didn't surrender.
The Falcons had their strongest set in the third game, improving their hitting percentage to 20 percent with 20 kills. UWRF trailed early and fought back to earn a lead at 9-8. From then on, the Falcons and Warhawks exchanged five leads, pushing the score to extras with the visitors eventually prevailing 31-29 for the set and match victory.
Lauren Noth led the Falcons with 12 kills and 11 digs.
UW-River Falls 3, Macalester 0
The Falcons bounced back in match two of the day, sweeping the Scots 26-24, 27-25, 25-19.
UWRF hit .220 compared to Macalester's .147 and had a season-high 13 services aces, including four from Abbi Hassforth.
Ava Goldsberry led the Falcons with 14 kills and 12 digs, while Hassforth had 19 assists and Blessing Adebisi tallied a career-high six blocks.
After back and forth sets one and two, UWRF saved its best for last, hitting 25 percent and leading for the majority of the set. A 5-0 run gave the Falcons a 12-4 lead, which was later extended to as many as 17-7. The Scots, down by 10 late in the match, made things interesting with five points in a row to trim the Falcon lead to 24-19, but a Lauren Noth kill closed out the set and match.
