EAU CLAIRE - For the second consecutive night the UW-Eau Claire volleyball team needed five games as they defeated No.3-ranked Concordia-Moorhead (MN) 15-9 in the fifth game to advance to the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Midwest Regional Final for the second consecutive year.

The Blugolds won by scores of 30-23, 28-30, 30-25, 21-30, 15-9. The Blugolds will now face fellow Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) foe and defending national champion UW-Whitewater. The match will be a rematch from last year's Midwest Regional Final in which Whitewater rallied from a two games to one deficit to win in five games. The Warhawks defeated Eau Claire twice this season, a five-game defeat in the regular season and a four-game loss in the WIAC Tournament Championship.

The Blugolds broke open a close game late as they took game one by a score of 30-23. The Blugolds out-scored the Cobbers 10-4 to end the game. The Blugolds came out effective with a .378 attack percentage.

In game two, the Blugolds had an 11-9 lead, but the Cobbers would score the next five points to take a 14-11 lead. Concordia then would have a 28-24 lead, but the Blugolds came back to tie it at 28-28. However, a Blugolds service error and a block gave the Cobbers 30-28 game two win. The Blugolds out-played Concordia in the second game with five more kills and a better attack percentage, but still lost.

The Blugolds had a 9-3 lead to begin game three, however Concordia came back to take a 15-14 lead. The Blugolds then bounced back and went on a 7-1 run to take a 20-15 lead. The Blugolds retained that lead to win the game 30-25. The Blugolds had 17 kills in the game.

It was the Cobbers turn to pull away in a close fourth game. With the score 17-16 Concordia, the Cobber would go on a 8-0 run and went on to win the game 30-21. The Cobbers had a .250 attack percentage, while the Blugolds had a .020 attack percentage.

In the fifth game, neither team had a lead of greater than two in the first half of the game. With the score 9-9, the Blugolds would take the final six points to win 15-9. Nine of the 15 points for Eau Claire were kills. The loss snapped Concordia's 18-match win streak.

The Blugolds ended with 75 kills in the match. The Cobbers finished with 55 kills. Eau Claire had five players with double figures in kills. Nikki Peterson (Jr.-North St. Paul, MN/North) had a collegiate-high 18 kills to lead the Blugolds. Jessica Groh (Sr.-Eau Claire, WI/North) had 15 kills, Jodi Dunbar (Sr.-Platteville, WI) had 13 kills, Abby Freiborg (So.-Sacred Heart, MN/Renville County West) had 12 kills, and Ashley Danielson (Sr.-Cadott, WI) had 10 kills.

Carly Freiborg (Sr.-Sacred Heart, MN/Renville County West) had 68 assists and Shanna Berger (Sr.-Baldwin, WI/Baldwin-Woodville) had 24 digs. Jessica Groh also led the team with eight blocks. Groh needs just two block assists to tie the school record for the most in a season. The record is currently held by Becca Carstensen with 148 in 2004. She also just needs two more total blocks to tie the school record for most in a season. The current record is also held by Becca Carstensen with 182 in 2004.

The Blugolds will face UW-Whitewater for the chance to go to Salem, VA and the Elite Eight tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the McPhee Physical Education Center.

Eau Claire-Concordia Box Score

Midwest Regional Web site

- JR -