UW-L Defeats UW-Eau Claire in Third-Place Match

For Immediate Release: Saturday, November 3, 2007

Whitewater, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team, 17th in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) rankings, earned a 3-2 (30-24, 30-25, 30-32, 24-30, 15-9) victory over UW-Eau Claire in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Third-Place match Saturday afternoon at UW-Whitewater.

The Eagles improve to 24-9 on the season while the Blugolds fall to 22-10. UW-Eau Claire earned a 3-0 (30-25, 30-27, 30-23) win over UW-L October 20.

In the semifinals Friday night, UW-L lost 3-0 (20-30, 18-30, 29-31) to seventh-ranked UW-Whitewater.

Katelyn Carlson led the Eagles with 25 kills and 37 digs in Saturday's win over UW-Eau Claire. She hit .306 in the match, finishing with 24 kills and six errors in 62 attempts. Brianne Stankus added 16 kills and 12 digs for UW-L while Nina Walch totaled 12 kills and Amber Schoonover 10. Walch finished with a team-high six blocks while Schoonover had 18 digs.

Samantha Dries finished with 53 assists and 22 digs for UW-L. The Eagles recorded 116 digs and hit .221 as a team with 15.0 blocks.

UW-L will now await word if it has earned an at-large berth for the NCAA Division III Tournament, which begins Thursday, November 8. Selections will be announced Sunday, November 4.