WINONA, Minn. (Blugolds.com) – The UW-Eau Claire women's volleyball team fell twice against nationally-ranked opponents at the Saint Mary's Invitational at Gostomski Fieldhouse today.
Facing 19th-ranked Augsburg College (Minn.), Eau Claire fell 3-0 to start the day, and dropped a match to 10th-ranked College of Saint Benedict (Minn.) 3-1 to end the day.
In the first match, Augsburg took the opening set 25-17 but the second was much closer. After a 16-16 tie, Augsburg used a 4-0 run to get up by four but the Blugolds fought back to tie it up at 24. But Augsburg was able to hold on and won 27-25. Augsburg then won the third set 25-19. Box Score
Kelly Schuh (Sr.-Appleton, Wis./Hortonville) led the Blugolds with 11 kills while she also had 10 digs. Lauren Sutherland (Sr.-Dayton, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian) led the match with 18 digs and Maggie Holcombe (Fr.-Shakopee, Minn.) had a team-high 18 set assists.
Against Saint Benedict, Eau Claire won the opening set 25-19 but Saint Benedict won the final three. The Blazers won the second set 25-13 and followed with a 25-8 victory to get up 2-1. In the final set, the teams worked their way to an 18-18 tie but the Blazers outscored the Blugolds 7-1 the rest of the way to win 25-19. Box Score
Schuh again led the Blugolds in kills with 11 but had nine errors in 41 attempts for a hitting percentage of .049. Sutherland had 22 digs to lead Eau Claire and Holcombe finished with 17 set assists.
Eau Claire is now 11-11 on the season.
The Blugolds will be in action again next Friday and Saturday, hosting the Sandy Schumacher Memorial Tournament in the McPhee Physical Education Center. It will also be Alumni and Homecoming Weekend.
-KM-
