WHITEWATER - The third-seeded UW-Eau Claire volleyball team defeated the number two seed UW-Oshkosh Titans in three games to move to Saturday's WIAC Tournament Championship match. The winner will clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The scores today were 30-27, 30-25, and 30-27. All three were come-from-behind victories.

The Blugolds hit .317 in game one with 20 kills with the Titans hitting .205. Eau Claire dropped off in the second game to 12 kills and .219, but Oskhosh was a full hundred points below that at .119. The Blugolds then hit .304 in game three with 21 kills. Oshkosh fell to .162 in game three and put together 14 kills in each game.

Jodi Dunbar (Jr.-Platteville) played a terrific match with 15 kills and five blocks. She led in kills and tied for most in blocks. Jenny Wolter (Sr.-Osceola) had 13 kills behind Dunbar. The most assists came from Carly Freiborg (Jr.-Sacred Heart, MN/Renville County West) as she had 43. Shanna Berger (Jr.-Baldwin/Baldwin-Woodville) and her 18 digs also led.

The defense came out strong with 47 digs over the 37 Titan digs. Eau Claire more than doubled the Oshkosh total in team blocks, with the Blugolds putting together 13.5 blocks and the Titans having 6.0. Dunbar and Jessica Groh (Jr.-Eau Claire/North) led in blocks with five apiece.

Eau Claire is now riding an 11-game winning streak. The last team they lost to was this Oshkosh squad back on October 14th. The last time the team went to the WIAC Tournament Championship game was in 1990 when it lost to Oshkosh in five games. It has never won the WIAC Tournament, though Eau Claire has gotten bids into the NCAA Division III Tournament, the most recent being 1997 when it made it to the Sweet 16.

The team will face UW-Platteville tomorrow for the spot. The Pioneers were seeded fifth but knocked off top-seeded UW-Whitewater in an epic match today. It went five games and the scores went 32-30, 25-30, 26-30, 30-27, and 15-8 in Platteville's favor. Whitewater shared the WIAC crown with Oshkosh, but both were upset and will have to fight for third in tomorrow's noon game. Both teams had only lost once in the conference through the entire season. Eau Claire has faced Platteville once this year, that being a 3-1 victory for the Blugolds. Platteville went 4-4 in conference play and 26-7 overall.

The match is scheduled for 2:30 in the Williams Center at Whitewater.

Semifinal Results

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