STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point volleyball team (19-4, 2-2) fell in four sets to visiting UW-La Crosse in a matchup of top-20 teams at Berg Gym on Saturday night.  The Pointers won the first set and pushed the Eagles through the finals points of extremely closes sets three and four.

Pointers senior Kelly Cefalu (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee) led all players with 17 kills in the match.  Junior Bella Nelson (Luck, WI/Luck) added 11 kills, a season high for the Luck, Wis. native.

UWSP created some separation in the first set with consecutive kills by Ellen Drewry (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee), Kelly Magliano (Chicago, IL/Mount Assisi Academy) and Gabby Thomas (Henderson, MN/LeSueur-Henderson) followed by a Bri Piepnebrok ace to go ahead 21-14.  Cefalu had another late-set kill and teamed with Drewry for a set-ending block.

The visiting Eagles opened up an 11-3 lead early in set two.  Cefalu had three late kills to end UW-La Crosse rallies, but the early deficit was too much to overcome.

Drewry had a pair of early kills in the third set as the team stayed tied at 7-7.  Nelson and Cefalu had five late kills to pull the Pointers even at 22-all late.  The tag-team had back-to-back kills to put the Pointers at set point.  But the Eagles thwarted a pair of set points and eked out a 28-26 set win.

Cefalu and Magliano recorded consecutive kills to open a 9-6 lead for the Pointers in the fourth set.  A 5-0 run highlighted by two Kendra Kundinger (Auburndale, WI/Auburndale) service aces put UWSP in front 19-16 later in the set.  The visitors overcame a 22-18 UWSP lead with seven of the final eight points of the match.

The Pointers travel to Madison next Saturday for the Edgewood Triangular with matches against Benedictine and host-Edgewood at 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., respectively.