STEVENS POINT, Wis. – After the first four sets were decided by three points or less, the No. 16 UW-Stevens Point volleyball team cruised through the decisive fifth set of a 26-24, 25-22, 25-27, 23-25, 15-6 victory over Edgewood on Tuesday evening at Berg Gym.
Box ScoreUW-Stevens Point (22-7) won the first two sets before Edgewood (21-9) battled back to send the match the distance, but the Pointers hit .526 in the fifth to close out the win. With the win, UW-Stevens Point improves to 5-3 in five-set matches this season.
Kelly Cefalu (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee) led the way with a match-high 17 kills for UW-Stevens Point and the junior hit .269 in the victory.
Emma Brunkhorst (Germantown, WI/Germantown) added 13 kills, while
Gabby Thomas (Henderson, MN/LeSueur-Henderson) pitched in with 12 kills and 15 digs.
Brittany Laffin (Carpentersville, IL/Hampshire) registered a career-high 53 assists and contributed 13 digs.
Hannah Picel (West Bend, WI/West) paced the Pointers' defense with 26 digs,
Marie Krengel (Eagan, MN/Eastview) had 20 and
Bri Piepenbrok (Merrill, WI/Merrill) added 18.
Jordan Winkler had a double-double of 14 kills and 25 digs for Edgewood, which saw its 12-match winning streak come to an end. Emily Chaussee also notched a double-double with 10 kills and 26 digs. Rachel Tesch made a match-high 35 digs for the Eagles.
After the Eagles forced the match to the fifth, UW-Stevens Point started the set by winning seven of the first nine points, three on kills by
Ellen Drewry (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee). The Pointers maintained a five-point deficit at 11-6 before winning the final four points, including a pair of kills by Cefalu.
Edgewood got out to an 8-4 lead early in the first set before UWSP claimed a 10-9 lead with a 6-1 run. The Pointers led by as many as 17-11 but the Eagles sent the set to extra points by knotting it at 24-24. However, UW-Stevens Point closed out the set with a kill by Brunkhorst and an Edgewood attack error.
The Pointers carried the momentum over to the second set by racing out to a 6-1 lead in the early stages. With UW-Stevens Point holding a 13-4 advantage, Edgewood rattled off five points in a row to get within four. The Pointers were up 24-17 when the Eagles staved off five set points only to allow UWSP to go up two sets on a service error.
The start of the third set was also back and forth but Edgewood took a 20-16 lead, forcing a UWSP timeout. Out of the timeout, UW-Stevens Point won five-straight points to go up 21-20 but then had to save two set points to get it to 24-24. The Eagles won the final three points to cut their deficit in half.
UW-Stevens Point led 11-8 near the midpoint of the fourth set and the teams continued to be close until it was 20-20. Edgewood then won four points in a row to bring up four set points but the Pointers fended off three. The Eagles then forced the match to a fifth set on a kill by Savannah Koester.
For the match, Edgewood outhit UW-Stevens Point .134 to .112 and held advantages in blocks (14-5) and digs (107-101).
UW-Stevens Point returns to Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play on Friday, Oct. 30 when UW-Stout visits Berg Gym for a 7 p.m. match.
