EAU CLAIRE, Wis. ?The UW-Eau Claire volleyball team took its first conference victory of the season with a 3-0 contest over UW-River Falls tonight.

The Blugolds improve to 9-5 overall and 1-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). Their WIAC loss was last match in a 3-0 decision to UW-Oshkosh, currently tied for seventh in the CSTV/AVCA Division III Coaches Poll. River Falls drops to 5-11 and is 1-2 in WIAC play.

The scores went 30-13, 30-25, and 30-23 as the Blugolds held the Falcons in check. The first game saw just one Eau Claire error as the team hit .429. River Falls hit -.061 in game one, but improved to .057 and .129 in games two and three. Eau Claire had 11 errors in game two while hitting .077, but rose to .333 in the final game.

Abby Freiborg (Jr.-Sacred Heart, MN/Renville County West) and Nikki Peterson (Sr.-North St. Paul, MN/North) led the attack with 15 and 11 kills, respectively. Emily Haese (Jr.-Mishicot) had 40 assists to feed the offense. The Blugolds had 48 kills to 24 for River Falls and 45 assists to 22 Falcon ones.

Freiborg also came through on defense with 17 digs. Both Lindsey Smith (So.-Maple Lake, MN) and Cassie Hunt (So.-Chippewa Falls/McDonell) had 11 as Eau Claire outpaced River Falls 71-to-47 in the digs department.

Eau Claire owns a 45-34 record all-time versus River Falls and has won the past seven matches. The team also beat the Falcons 3-0 earlier this year at the UWEC Labor Day Tournament.

The Blugolds will next participate in the UW-Platteville Tournament this weekend. Their first match is Friday at 6 p.m. versus Cornell College (IA).