Spring Break
Volleyball team defeats No. 10 UW-Oshkosh
Nick Gourdoux
Issue date: 10/6/08 Section: Sports
|
"We had a really good week of practice," senior Emily Haese said. "We were at a point in our season where we could either give up or keep going."
The Titans entered the match with a 20-1 overall record, while the Blugolds' record was 10-9. The match, which was the first home match of the season for the Blugolds, got off to a good start as Eau Claire won a close first game, 25-23. In the second game, with the score close at 16-12, the Blugolds scored seven consecutive points to increase the lead to 23-12. The Titans' attempt at a comeback fell short as the Blugolds took game two by a score of 25-27. The Blugolds found themselves down early in game three, but rebounded and won the game, 25-20.
"We didn't think about their rankings coming into the game," Haese said. "We weren't thinking about how good they were, we were thinking about how we needed to play to come away with a win."
On the day that Eau Claire honored seniors who will be leaving the team after the season, it was the seniors who stepped up and performed well for the Blugolds.
Senior Abby Freiborg led the team with 13 kills and recorded the second highest amount of digs with 11. Senior setter Emily Haese led the team with 30 assists. Junior Lindsey Smith led the way with 16 digs.
"The extra support from our teammates was enough to help (the seniors) play well," Freiborg said.
The victory improved the Blugolds' WIAC record to 3-0, and put them in first place in the conference. The three in-conference victories have come against teams that are in the top five of the standings. Oshkosh, now in second place with a 5-1 WIAC record, UW-La Crosse, in third place with a 3-1 WIAC record, and UW-Platteville, in fourth place with a 2-1 WIAC record have all lost to the Blugolds.
"We're performing well under pressure," Freiborg said. "We have that target on our back, but we're ready to live up to it."
The Blugolds will travel to River Falls on Wednesday for a match against the 9-11 Falcons.
"They can't be overlooked," Freiborg said. "It's hard to play over there, and they're going to come ready to play. We need to be mentally prepared."
The match will be the second of a streak of six consecutive WIAC matches that will go a long way in determining where the Blugolds are at the end of the season.
Be the first to comment on this story