Volleyball Upsets UW-Oshkosh in WIAC Semifinal

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By: Kevin Meinholz, Sports Information Director
Posted: Friday, November 6, 2009 at 11:25 PM

OSHKOSH, Wis. (UWECBlugolds.com) - The 18th-ranked UW-Eau Claire women's volleyball team upset No. 1-ranked UW-Oshkosh with a 3-2 victory in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament Semifinal at Kolf Sports Center tonight.

The Blugolds, who have won 11 consecutive matches, handed the Titans just their second loss of the season. Oshkosh's only other loss came against UW-Whitewater on October 23, and the Titans are now 34-2.

The Blugolds (30-6) will now face Whitewater in the WIAC Championship match Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The Warhawks defeated UW-Platteville tonight 3-0. The Pioneers and the Titans will compete against each other tomorrow at noon in the conference's third place match.

Oshkosh and Eau Claire played even tonight with both teams exchanging points a number of times throughout the match. Oshkosh controlled the third set while the Blugolds controlled the fourth but the others were played closely. The Blugolds were eventually able to get the win with scores of 23-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-19, and 15-13.

Three Blugolds reached double-digit kill totals with Rachel Ver Voort (Jr.-Madison, Wis./Middleton) and Danielle Lucia (Jr.-St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo) leading the way with 12 apiece. Three Titans led the match with 13 each. Eau Claire finished with 56 kills while Oshkosh had 58 but the Blugolds outhit Oshkosh .147 to .119.

Ver Voort and Blair Murphy (Jr.-Hermantown, Minn.) finished the night with 16 digs each to lead the Blugolds and Amanda Lessner (Jr.-Watertown, Wis.) had 26 assists to lead Eau Claire. Emily Neave (Fr.-Salem, Wis./Westosha Central) added 24.

Oshkosh's Katelyn Vara had a match-high 52 assists and Christina Cahoon led the match with 34 digs.