TACOMA, Wash. – The UW-River Falls volleyball team closed out the weekend with a pair of hard-fought matches against formidable opponents on Saturday, splitting two contests against teams that both advanced to the NCAA Tournament a season ago.
The Falcons opened the day with a four-set battle against Pacific Lutheran, falling 3-1, before rallying from a two-set deficit to defeat Franklin & Marshall in five sets. Franklin & Marshall entered the weekend receiving votes in the AVCA preseason national coaches poll, making UWRF's comeback victory an especially notable result as the Falcons finished the weekend 3-1.
UWRF returns home to host the Falcon Invite next weekend, Sept. 11-12 at Page Arena.
Pacific Lutheran 3, UW-River Falls 1
In the Falcons' opening match of the day and third of the weekend, they battled PLU throughout the four-set contest but were unable to overcome the Lutes' late-set execution.
UWRF recorded 50 kills on 138 attacks and hit .203 as a team. Emily Brenner and Blessing Adebisi led the Falcons with 10 kills apiece, while Lauren Noth added eight kills and hit .250. Grace McDole also contributed eight kills.
Amanda Baumann distributed 46 assists in the match, while Olivia Noble added 18 assists. Audrey Petersen led UW-River Falls with 12 digs, followed by Cora Sayotovich with 11 and McDole with 10.
The Falcons opened the match with a 25-22 setback before answering with a 25-22 victory in the second set. Pacific Lutheran regained the advantage with a 25-23 win in the third set and closed out the match with a 25-21 fourth-set victory.
Adebisi paced the Falcons at the net with three blocks, while Noth added two blocks. Brenner and Noth each recorded a service ace.
UW-River Falls 3, Franklin & Marshall 2
In the final match of the weekend, UWRF rallied from a two-set deficit to defeat Franklin & Marshall 3-2 (24-26, 19-25, 25-20, 25-18, 15-13).
UWRF recorded 57 kills on 178 attacks and hit .185 as a team. Emily Brenner led the Falcons with 18 kills and 13 digs, while Blessing Adebisi added 15 kills and hit .353. Ada Schlenker and Lauren Noth each contributed eight kills.
Cora Sayotovich led the Falcons with 22 assists and 15 digs, while Olivia Noble added 19 assists. Audrey Petersen recorded a team-high 14 digs, and Adebisi paced UWRF at the net with three blocks.
Franklin & Marshall took the opening set 26-24 and followed with a 25-19 win in the second set. The Falcons answered with a 25-20 victory in the third before earning a 25-18 win in the fourth to force a decisive fifth set.
UWRF trailed 13-11 in the final set before scoring four straight points to complete the comeback and secure the 15-13 victory. The Falcons finished with 10 service aces and seven blocks, with Amanda Baumann recording four aces.
