University of Wisconsin-Platteville Pioneers

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-Platteville volleyball team split Saturday's pair of matches at Northwestern's Kathryne Pals Tournament. The Pioneers defeated Bethel University 3-1 before being swept by the home team in the final match of the tournament.

Junior Brooklyn Radecke was named All-Tournament following the conclusion of the two-day competition. Radecke finished the tournament with 43 kills, 30 digs, and five blocks.

Match One
 The Pioneers opened Saturday's competition with a four-set battle against Bethel (3-2). Senior Bria Johnston led the attack and reached a career-best 21 kills on a .288 hitting percentage across the four sets.

The first set was tied at 15 until a four-point run gave the Pioneers the momentum needed to pull ahead for a 25-18 win. The Royals took the next set 25-14, but the Pioneers answered by taking set three 25-21, featuring a 7-1 run with back-to-back kills from Johnston to close out the set. 

The final set was back-and-forth, but UW-Platteville finished strong once again, including another 7-1 run with six kills from Johnston, Radecke and junior Abby Bauer.
 
Match Two
Senior Kennedy Wenger had a strong second match of the day, as the Pioneers faced off against the home Eagles. Wenger tallied seven kills behind a .455 hitting percentage while adding four block assists.

The first set started off as a close contest, but a seven-point run midway through shifted momentum towards Northwestern. The Pioneers strung together a couple of small rallies, but the home team took set one 25-22. The Eagles pulled ahead early in the second set and cruised to a 25-11 win.  The final set was tied at 10, but another midway run by Northwestern put the Pioneers behind by eight. Sophomore Ava Valentin strung together a pair of aces and was followed by kills by Johnston and Radecke to keep the Pioneers alive and within three points, but they couldn't close the gap before the Eagles won 25-20 to close the match.

UW-Platteville moves to 1-2 overall following the tournament and will return to action on Wednesday, Sept. 9 when they travel to Wartburg College for a non-conference match starting at 7 p.m.