RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The UW-River Falls women's volleyball team defeated St. Catherine University 3-2 Tuesday night at Page Arena, winning by scores of 25-23, 25-17, 21-25, 22-25, 15-12.
UWRF improves to 7-8 overall with the win, and 4-1 on its home court at Page Arena. As a team, the Falcons totaled a season-high 65 kills, 61 assists, and 88 digs.
The opening set was a back-and-forth affair with six tie scores and multiple lead changes. After trailing early, the Falcons rallied behind key kills from Lauren Noth, Reese Bauman, and Kelsey Klesner, eventually pulling ahead 25-23 to take the first frame. In the second set, UWRF dominated offensively, hitting .390 including five kills from Blessing Adebisi. The Falcons jumped out to a commanding lead and never looked back, cruising to a 25-17 win.
St. Kate's responded in the third and fourth sets, capitalizing on Falcon errors while gaining momentum to force a decisive fifth set.
In the final frame, UWRF built an early 5-1 lead behind an ace from Ava Goldsberry and kills from Noth and Grace McDole. The Wildcats clawed back to within one, but the Falcons held firm and delivered with clutch kills down the stretch to seal the win.
Leading the Falcons was Blessing Adebisi, who finished with a career-high 17 kills with a strong .371 hitting percentage, and Lauren Noth who tallied 13 kills and 10 digs. Olivia Noble set up the offense with a career-high 49 assists while Audrey Petersen tied her career-high with 31 digs.
The Falcons head back into WIAC play on Friday, Sept. 26, traveling to face No. 4-ranked UW-Whitewater.
