By: Jake Krier, UWEC Sports Information
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (blugolds.com) - On Friday night, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire volleyball team bounced back from a difficult start to their season with a win over the College of St. Scholastica. The Blugolds topped the Saints in four sets in what is their first of three matches at the weekend's Augsburg Invitational.
Both teams entered the weekend's invite with records of 1-3 and were looking to pick up an early win and some momentum. Earlier in the day, the Saints were swept by St. Thomas, who UW-Eau Claire faces on Saturday. With scores of 25-14, 16-25, 26-24, and 25-18, the Blugolds handed St. Scholastica their fifth straight loss.
Similar to the two teams' match a year ago, the Blugolds took sets one, three, and four while surrendering the second to the Saints.
In Friday's first set, both teams struggled on the attack, hitting sub-.100 for the majority of the frame. The Blugolds finished strong, going on an 11-3 run, finishing with a hitting percentage of .186. Madison Surprise (Jr.-Appleton, WI/Kimberly) recorded 13 of her match-high 46 assists in the opening set. She also led the team in digs in the match, earning nine of her 14 on the night in set one.
St. Scholastica figured things out offensively in set two, hitting at a .438 mark, while the Blugolds dipped down to .077 in the second.
Eau Claire's best set came in the third, though they nearly gave up a 2-1 lead in the match. The Saints had a 24-23 set point advantage before the blue and gold rallied off three straight points. The Blugolds recorded 21 kills in the set while hitting .314.
Finally, Eau Claire separated themselves from the Saints in set four, after they were neck-and-neck at the midway point. They capitalized on the opposition's errors on way to the four-set win.
Leaders for the Blugolds attack were Madelyn Pashibin (Jr.-Minneapolis, MN/Minneapolis Southwest) with 14 kills, Makenzie Bachmann (Fr.-Chaska, MN) with 13, and Jessica Coyne (Jr.-Verona, WI) with 12 in the win.
The Blugolds return to the court with two more matches at Augsburg University on Saturday. They face the No. 2-ranked University of Northwestern-St. Paul at 11:00 a.m. and another opponent from St. Paul in St. Thomas at 3:00 p.m.
Follow all the action on Blugold Game Day.
