STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The sixth-ranked UW-Stevens Point volleyball team completed a 4-0 showing at the Pointer Invitational by defeating Bethel and Concordia-Moorhead by 3-0 scores on Saturday at Berg Gym.
 
No. 6 UW-Stevens Point 3, Bethel 0 | Box
 
UW-Stevens Point (8-0) used a balanced offensive attack with three players in double figures to defeat Bethel (9-1), which was in the "receiving votes" portion of this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll.
 
Ellen Drewry (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee) had a match-high 12 kills, Gabby Thomas (Henderson, MN/LeSueur-Henderson) tallied 11 and Emma Brunkhorst (Germantown, WI/Germantown) added 10 for the Pointers, who hit .258 in the match. Brittany Laffin (Carpentersville, IL/Hampshire) recorded 38 assists for the Pointers, while Hannah Picel (West Bend, WI/West Bend West) led the defense with 26 digs.
 
A tightly-contested first set went to extra points and, after saving a pair of set points, UW-Stevens Point pulled it out 29-27. Thomas broke a 27-27 deadlock with a kill before a Bethel attack error ended the set.
 
Bethel led most of the way in the second set, as the Royals held leads of 15-9 and 21-16. However, the Pointers won seven straight points and nine of the last 10 after trailing 21-16.
 
UW-Stevens Point started the third set quickly by taking a 9-4 lead and hit .310 with 15 kills and just two errors in the set. Bethel's only lead of the final set was 2-1.
 
Carlle Hoppe led Bethel with 11 kills and 12 digs, while Katie Lubben registered 32 assists.
 
No. 6 UW-Stevens Point 3, Concordia-Moorhead 0 | Box
 
UW-Stevens Point held Concordia-Moorhead (5-2) to an attack percentage of .034 on its way to its seventh sweep in eight matches this season with a 25-11, 25-23, 25-15 victory.
 
Thomas matched her career-high with 15 digs, Hannah Picel (West Bend, WI/West Bend West) made 13 and Bri Piepenbrok (Merrill, WI/Merrill) chipped in with 11. Brunkhorst led the Pointers' offense with 11 kills and just one error on 18 attempts, good for an attack percentage of .556.
 
UW-Stevens Point won nine points in a row to blow open the first set with a 22-9 lead. The Cobbers hit -.179 in the first set compared to .261 for UWSP.
 
Concordia-Moorhead got out to an early 7-3 lead in the second and held a 22-18 advantage late on. However, the Pointers came back with a 6-0 run to take a 24-22 lead and closed it out on a Brunkhorst kill.
 
A 9-3 run in the middle of the third set helped UW-Stevens Point establish an 18-11 lead that the Pointers would see out to complete the sweep. Drewry, Thomas, Bella Nelson (Luck, WI/Luck) and Kelly Cefalu (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee) each had at least six kills in the match.
 
Following the tournament, Picel was named the Pointer Invitational MVP and she was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Drewry. Picel averaged 7.57 digs per set over UWSP's four matches, while Drewry totaled 40 kills and hit .418.