WHITEWATER, Wis. – It took five sets and extra points in two of them, but the UW-Stevens Point volleyball team (23-8, 5-2) earned a massive five-set win (30-28, 23-25, 23-25, 27-25, 15-12) at league champion UW-Whitewater (21-7, 6-1) on Friday in the regular season finale.
 
Senior April Gehl (Hilbert, Wis./Hilbert) tied a season-high with 33 kills as she moved into fourth in league history in the category.  She added a career-best 30 digs for her 23rd double-double of the season.
 
Junior Ellie Adams (Racine, Wis./William Horlick) also had a career-night with 63 assists, three more than her previous career high set last season.  She had a double-double with 16 digs.
 
Sophomore Emma Peterson (Bloomington, Minn./Thomas Jefferson) tied Gehl for the team-lead with 30 digs, a career-high for Peterson.  Mazie Nagel (Stratford, Wis./Stratford) and Kelsie Belfiori (Merrill, Wis./Merrill) also had double-figure digs with 26 and 19, respectively.  Senior Tara Emme (St. Nazianz, Wis./Valders) added 14 kills.
 
A five-point spurt gave the Pointers an early lead in the first set.  The teams swapped the lead throughout until a pair of kills by Emme powered a three-point run to finish the set win.
 
UWSP used a six-point run to close the gap from a 16-8 deficit, but the teams alternated points as UWW held on to tie the match.  Maddie Lawson (West Allis, Wis./Nathan Hale) had a kill and teamed with Adams on consecutive blocks to give UWSP a 13-9 lead in the third set, but the Warhawks netted the final two points after a 23-all tie to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Hailey Jarr (Bloomer, Wis./Bloomer) had a kill and a block in a 5-0 run to give the pointers a 10-6 lead in the fourth set.  After the Warhawks got to match point, UWSP rattled off four of the final five points to send the match to the fifth set.
 
Gehl had three kills to spark UWSP to an 11-5 lead in the fifth set.  The Warhawks battled back to a 12-12 tie, but a pair of attack errors flanking a kill by Gehl gave the Pointers the win in five.
 
The victory locks up a tie for second in the final league standings for UWSP.  By virtue of the tiebreaker, the Pointers will be the three-seed and host a first round match in the WIAC Championship (presented by Culver's) on Tuesday (Nov. 5) at 7:00 p.m.  UWSP's opponent in that match will be determined on Saturday.