EAU CLAIRE - The fifth-ranked UW-Eau Claire volleyball team swept rival UW-Stout in three games in the first round of the 2006 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament tonight at the McPhee Physical Education Center.

The number one-seeded Blugolds won by scores of 30-24, 30-18, 30-18. The win improves the Blugolds record to 27-2 overall. The Blue Devils end their season with a 15-14 overall record.

The Blugolds started out strong winning the first five points of the match. Eau Claire would stay up by around five points the entire first game on its way to winning 30-24. The Blugolds doubled up the Blue Devils in the first game with 16 kills.

With Stout up 3-2 in game two, the Blugolds would take the next 10 points to go up 12-3. Eau Claire would win game two 30-18. The Blugolds had their best attack percentage (.303) of the match in game two and had 15 kills.

The Blugolds never trailed in game three as they closed out the match with 30-18 victory. Eau Claire ended with 45 kills in the match, compared to just 25 kills for Stout.

Abby Freiborg (So.-Sacred Heart, MN/Renville County West) and Jodi Dunbar (Sr.-Platteville, WI) each had 14 kills to lead the Blugolds. Jessica Groh (Sr.-Eau Claire, WI/North) added seven kills. Carly Freiborg (Sr.-Sacred Heart, MN/Renville County West) had 36 assists and led the team with four service aces. Ashley Danielson (Sr.-Cadott, WI) led Eau Claire with six blocks. Shanna Berger (Sr.-Baldwin/Baldwin-Woodville) had 13 digs in the victory.

This is the second consecutive year the Blugolds defeated Stout in the first round of the WIAC Tournament and second straight year Eau Claire has reached the semifinals. The Blugolds finished second last year, losing to UW-Platteville in the finals. The Blugolds have never won a conference tournament title.

The Blugolds will host the WIAC Final Four this Friday and Saturday. The Blugolds will face the five seed UW-River Falls, who defeated UW-Stevens Point in three games. In the other semifinal, the No. 3 seed UW-Whitewater will face the No. 7 seed UW-Platteville, who rallied to defeat the No. 2 seed UW-Oshkosh in five games. The Whitewater-Platteville match will begin at 5 p.m. Friday. The Eau Claire-River Falls match will follow at 7:30 p.m. All of the action will take place in the McPhee Physical Education Center.

Eau Claire-Stout Box Score

- JR -