EAU CLAIRE, WI (blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire volleyball team hosted their first home match of the year as the 9th annual Sandy Schumacher Memorial Tournament got underway on Friday. No. 13 UW-Eau Claire hosted Saint Benedict (Minn.) in their lone match of the day and came away with a 3-2 victory over the Bennies.
Home court advantage was eminent from the beginning as UWEC held a .500 attacking rate from the net and opened the evening with a 5-0 run. Jordan Witzel (Sr. – Woodbury, MN/East Ridge) and Selena Levendoski (Sr. – Clear Lake, WI/Clayton) led the Blugold charge early in the opening set, recording nine of the team's 14 kills in the match. "We had a great crowd that made the gym electric and a lot of fun", Head Coach Kim Wudi said after the game. "We want to win at home and for us to pull it out and play good volleyball makes me proud."
The second set would see similar play from the first as Eau Claire rattled off a five-point run and pulled ahead, 9-5. Witzel, Levendoski, and Arianna Barrett (Sr. – Lakeville, MN/North) tallied four kills each in the 25-18 second set win. Charlie Nelson (Jr. – Lakeville, MN/Farmington) recorded 14 assists in the second set and finished the night with 56 total assists on 131 attempts. UW-Eau Claire found their highest sideout rate of the night in the second set as they went 16-19 at 84%.
After a dominating start, the Saint Benedict Bennies refused to go away as they held the Blugolds to their lowest hitting sets of the night and won the third and fourth sets 25-23 and 25-22. Saint Ben's put up four blocks in the two sets and found four service aces against Eau Claire. The Bennies also scored the final three points of each set to force a fifth set.
"We focus on that 1-0 mentality for every point", Maren Saunders (Sr. – St. Michael, MN/St. Michael-Albertville) mentioned when asked about the back and forth play of the game. "Sometimes we may have slip ups, but we always go into the next ball rippin' and looking to score."
The fifth and final set lived up to the hype as UWEC rolled out with a 2-0 lead off a Ben's attacking error and a Charlie Nelson ace. The teams traded points halfway through, but it was the Blugolds who kept that initial two point lead through the entirety of the set. Arianna Barrett sealed the win for UWEC with the teams final two points coming off successful attacks by the senior.
The Blugolds (6-3, WIAC 1-0) will continue play in the Sandy Schumacher Memorial Tournament on Saturday, September 17th when they face Lakeland University and St. Catherine's at 11AM and 3PM respectively.
Follow the Blugolds all season long at Blugold Game Day or on our app, UWEC Blugolds.
