EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The No. 17 UW-Stevens Point volleyball team (27-6) rallied for a five-set win at UW-Eau Claire (23-10) on Tuesday in the first round of the WIAC Volleyball Championship (presented by Culver's). Senior Bri Piepenbrok (Merrill, WI/Merrill) had a career-high 48 digs to become the first player in school history to surpass 700 digs in a season.

Fellow senior Kelly Cefalu (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee) had her sixth double-double of the season providing a team-high 19 kills to go with 13 digs.  Freshman Abby Majercik (Johnsburg, IL/Johnsburg) also had a double-double with 38 assists and 14 digs.

Junior Ellen Drewry (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee) and senior Gabby Thomas (Henderson, MN/LeSueur-Henderson) combined for three-straight kills to erase an early first set deficit.  Later in the set, junior Kelly Magliano (Chicago, IL/Mount Assisi Academy) had a trio of kills to knot the set at 10-10.  Cefalu followed a kill with three service aces to build an 18-13 UWSP lead.  Cefalu and Magliano put together a combination of kills to give the Pointers the first set.

The Blugolds jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set and held a sizable advantage on their way to evening the match. 

Sophomore Shannah Carter (Prior Lake, MN/Prior Lake) had three mid-set service aces as the Pointers went on a 6-0 run to take an 11-8 lead in the third set.  Drewry and Cefalu powered back-to-back kills to give UWSP a 21-17 advantage.  A four-point spurt by UWEC knotted the set at 23-23 and the teams swapped set points until the Blugolds strung together three-straight points for the 30-28 set victory.

Cefalu had three early kills in set four as the Pointers turned a 6-0 lead into a 10-3 advantage.  Cefalu and Drewry had four mid-set kills to up the Pointers' lead to 19-11 en route to the match-tying set win.

Thomas and Magliano had three early kills in the fifth set to pull UWSP ahead 5-2.  The host Blugolds rallied for an 11-8 lead before Cefalu and junior Bella Nelson (Luck, WI/Luck) sandwiched a Piepenbrok ace with kills to even the set at 13-13.  UWEC scored the next point to set up match point for the hosts.  A Cefalu kill erased the match point and Nelson powered back-to-back kills for UWSP to seal the win.

The Pointers advance to the WIAC Tournament semifinals and will play top-seed UW-Whitewater in Whitewater on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.