ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Blugolds.com) – The UW-Eau Claire women's volleyball team ended its five-match winning streak by falling to ninth-ranked Washington University-St. Louis (Mo.) at the Washington University Tournament today.
The Blugolds had a tough time getting things going in the first two sets, which they dropped 25-11 and 25-16, but played the Bears closer in the third set although they still came up short 25-23.
In the opening set, the teams were tied early, 3-3, but the Bears then outscored the Blugolds 7-1 to take a 10-6 lead. Eau Claire got back to within three (11-8) but that was the closest they would get as Washington-St. Louis outscored the Blugolds 14-3 the rest of the way.
In the second set, the Blugolds took the lead but again a run by the Bears gave them a 7-2 lead which they built to 13-4 midway through the set. The closest the Blugolds would get after that was seven points six times before the Bears won by nine.
Eau Claire found itself down early in the third set but tied it up at eight and it remained close the rest of the way. After a 13-13 tie, the Blugolds held a lead for the next few minutes until it was tied at 18. Then, down, 24-20, the Blugolds battled back to score three straight but the Bears were able to score the final one to win by two.
The Blugolds had their poorest hitting performance of the season tonight, just .029 with 23 kills and 20 errors. Katrina Raskie (Fr.-Weston, Wis./D.C. Everest) and Kelly Schuh (Sr.-Appleton, Wis./hortonville) tied for a team-high six kills.
Eau Claire led the match with 10 blocks, led by Kelly Riesgraf (So.-Chaska, Minn.) with five block assists.
The Blugolds drop to 9-7 on the season while Washington University improves to 10-3.
Tomorrow the Blugolds will face two more opponents in St. Louis, taking on Elmhurst College (Ill.) at 10 a.m. and Millikin University (Ill.) at 12:15 p.m.
-KM-
