STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point volleyball team (21-7, 3-2) rallied from behind all night, ultimately falling in five sets to UW-Eau Claire (12-8, 4-1) on Senior Night.
 
Senior Morgan Wirkus (Marathon, Wis./Marathon) picked up her second double-double of the week with 21 digs and 14 kills.  Sophomore April Gehl (Hilbert, Wis./Hilbert) also had a double-double, her 10th in the last 12 matches, adding a career-high 26 kills and 18 digs.
 
Fellow senior Kendra Kundinger (Auburndale, Wis./Auburndale) contributed 25 digs, her 27th double-figure total match this season.  Sophomore Abby Majercik (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg) recorded a match-high 52 assists.
 
The first set saw the Pointers fall behind 7-1 with a Gehl kill accounting for the lone point.  Wirkus and fellow senior Kelly Magliano (Chicago, Ill./Mount Assisi Academy) each registered a kill in a 7-2 run to pull UWSP within a point.  Gehl and Majercik had three aces over the span of four UWSP points to turn the tide in favor of the Pointers.  Back-to-back kills by Magliano broke a late 20-20 tie and Gehl finished the set win with a kill.
 
UWSP fell into a 6-0 hole to begin the second set, but quickly responded with a six-point run to tie the set.  A couple of short runs by the Blugolds put the Pointers down 18-12 and UWSP couldn't finish a comeback in the set.
 
Gehl had a pair of early kills in the third set, but a four-point spurt put UWEC ahead 6-4.  Kills by Wirkus and Magliano kept the Pointers close, but a 9-2 mid-set run put the Blugolds ahead.  The Pointers rallied behind a six-point run with kills by Wirkus, Magliano and Gehl to pull within one at 21-20, but four miscues by UWSP ended the set in UWEC's favor.
 
Magliano had three early kills as the Pointers jumped in front 9-5 in the fourth set.  A Tara Emme (St. Nazianz, Wis./Valders) kill capped a 7-3 run as UWSP increased the lead to 16-10.  Two late kills by Wirkus sent the match to a decisive fifth set.
 
UWEC used an early 7-0 run to give the Pointers a steep slope to climb in the fifth set.  Maddie Courter (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) buried a kill to end the run and, later in the set, a three-point burst pulled the Pointers within 13-9.  A pair of Gehl kills kept the match alive, but the Blugolds prevailed in the fifth set.
 
The Pointers head out on the road for the remainder of the regular season.  UWSP begins the stretch run next Friday (Oct. 20) at the UW-Oshkosh Tournament against Bates College (5:30 p.m.) and Texas-Dallas (7:30 p.m.).