MENOMONIE, Wis. – The No. 17 UW-Stevens Point volleyball team (25-6, 3-3) took care of business with a straight-set win in conference play over UW-Stout (15-12, 3-3) on Friday night.  The Pointers prevailed by a 25-22, 25-14, 26-24 score to move into a three-way tie for fourth in the league standings.

Senior Kelly Cefalu (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee) continued to be the go-to attacker, racking up a match-high 18 kills.  Junior Ellen Drewry (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee) had 11 kills as the two Pointers were the only double-digit kill totals for the match.

Fellow senior Bri Piepenbrok (Merrill, WI/Merrill) added 29 digs to her league-best total and now sits at 656 for the season, just 20 digs shy of tying the single season standard. 

Sophomore Brittany Laffin (Carpentersville, IL/Hampshire) had a season-high 27 assists for UWSP.

The Pointers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set. But a string of six-straight points by the hosts put UWSP down, 8-7.  Drewry followed a kill with a combination block with Cefalu mid-set as the Pointers inched ahead and UWSP lead the rest of the set.

UWSP pieced together a pair of early 3-0 runs in the second set to lead 10-6.  Later in the set, sophomore Shannah Carter (Prior Lake, MN/Prior Lake) served up an ace to cap the first of two 4-0 runs as the Pointers cruised to the set win.

Senior Gabby Thomas (Henderson, MN/LeSueur-Henderson) had a pair of early kills in the third set to put UWSP ahead, 6-3.  Cefalu and Drewry combined for five kills mid-set to up the advantage to 17-13.  A late 6-0 run put the hosts ahead 23-22, but a 3-0 stretch by the Pointers ended the match.

UWSP closes out the regular season on Saturday at UW-River Falls with a 1:00 p.m. match.  The Pointers have clinched a spot in the WIAC tournament with seeding yet to be determined pending tomorrow's league match results.