ELMHURST, Ill. – The No. 10 UW-Stevens Point volleyball team split a pair of matches, falling 25-22, 25-17, 27-25 to Wheaton (Ill.) before topping No. 16 Elmhurst 25-11, 25-15, 23-25, 25-20 on Saturday at the Elmhurst College Invitational.
 
Wheaton 3, No. 10 UW-Stevens Point 0 | Box
 
Wheaton (5-9) outhit UW-Stevens Point (14-3) .231-.115 in the match to sweep the Pointers in their first match of the day. The Thunder also held an 8-2 advantage in blocks in the win.
 
The Thunder used a 5-0 run to go up 22-16 in the first set and held off a late rally by the Pointers. UW-Stevens Point won four points in a row to get within one, 23-22, before Wheaton closed out the set.
 
Wheaton raced out to a 6-0 lead in the second set before UW-Stevens Point tied the score at 16-16 with a 5-0 run. However, the Thunder responded with a 7-0 spurt and saw it out to go up 2-0.
 
Neither team led by more than three in the third but Wheaton sealed the sweep by breaking a 25-25 tie with two consecutive points. Shelby Knowles led the Thunder with 17 kills and 18 digs.
 
Kelly Cefalu (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee) tallied 18 kills, one shy of her career-high, to lead UW-Stevens Point but no other played had more than six. Brittany Laffin (Carpentersville, IL/Hampshire) had 36 assists, while Hannah Picel (West Bend, WI/West Bend West) led the Pointers with 14 digs.
 
No. 10 UW-Stevens Point 3, No. 16 Elmhurst 1 | Box
 
UW-Stevens Point (15-3) picked up its third win against ranked teams and its second over Elmhurst (12-5) this season by rebounding from the loss to Wheaton. The Pointers hit .214 and registered 11 blocks in the four-set win.
 
Marie Krengel (Eagan, MN/Eastview) hammered a career-high 14 kills and hit .522 for UW-Stevens Point. Cefalu  and Gabby Thomas (Henderson, MN/LeSueur-Henderson) were also in double figures with 13 and 11 kills, respectively.
 
Laffin tallied 41 assists, while Picel and Bri Piepenbrok (Merrill, WI/Merrill) combined for 37 digs. Six Pointers had multiple blocks in the win.
 
UW-Stevens Point started quickly by taking a 9-3 lead early in the first set and never looked back, hitting .333 in the set, compared to -.029 for the Blue Jays. After the teams were tied at 11-11 in the second set, the Pointers won 14 of the final 18 points to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
 
Elmhurst used a 5-1 late in the third set to take a 22-19 lead and sent the match to a fourth set by holding UWSP to a .025 attack percentage. The Pointers won 11 of the first 14 points early in the fourth and held off a late charge by the Blue Jays to see out the win.
 
Mary Lawrence led Elmhurst with 13 kills, while Alli Rogers had 11. Hannah Nimrick tallied 35 assists and 10 digs for the hosts.
 
UW-Stevens Point returns to Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play at conference rival UW-Whitewater on Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m.