WAVERLY, Iowa – Down by nine in the final set set, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville volleyball team rallied to a 26-24 win and victory over Wartburg College in four sets on Wednesday night inside Levick Arena. The Pioneers (2-2) took the first two sets by 25-16 and 25-21 before the Knights answered with a 25-21 win to force the fourth set.
Defensively, the Pioneers tallied nine blocks with junior
Paige Foltz pacing the team with four. Freshman
Lauren Abbott added three of her own blocks while leading the Pioneers with 11 kills. Senior
Bria Johnston registered nine kills with a team-high .444 hitting percentage while also tallying a match-high 27 digs. As a team, the Pioneers hit .233 and totaled 47 kills.
The first set started as a back-and-fourth battle, but a 9-3 run down the middle of the set gave the Pioneers a 20-12 advantage. A kill by Johnston brought set-point and two serves later, a kill by Abbott gave UW-Platteville the 25-16 opening set victory.
The Pioneers took a 14-10 lead in the second set, but the Knights rallied to move ahead 16-14. However, kills by junior
Abby Bauer and Johnston along with a service ace by junior
Brooklyn Radecke put UW-Platteville ahead 18-17. From that point forward, the team battled through and a pair of kills by Abbot and freshman
Della Smith pushed the Pioneers to the 25-21 win.
In the third set, points bounced between the two teams and the Pioneers trailed 13-12 midway through. Wartburg strung together a couple of four-point runs, including the final four of the set, to take the set 25-21.
It looked like the Knights would take the fourth set after jumping out to a 14-5 lead, but the Pioneers started to chip away at the deficit and a pair of aces by sophomore
Amina Maali cut the Knights' advantage to 15-11. A kill by Bauer capped off a five-point run to bring the Pioneers within two points, and a six serves later a block by Foltz knotted the game 21-21. The teams were tied once more at 24, and the Pioneers closed out the match behind back-to-back blocks by Foltz and then sophomore
Grace Rohde and Abbott.
Up next, UW-Platteville will compete at the Wisconsin Lutheran Tournament with their first match scheduled for this Friday at 6 p.m. against Millikin.
