EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire fell to UW-River Falls 3-2 on Wednesday at The Sonnentag, with set scores of 25-23, 21-25, 22-25, 25-20 and 12-15. The Blugolds pushed the match to a fifth set after turning a 5-4 deficit in the fourth into a 9-6 lead and taking the set by five points. UW-Eau Claire finished with 68 kills and 88 digs but hit .192 with 31 attack errors, while UW-River Falls hit .227.
The Blugolds edged UW-River Falls 13-12 in kills and 3-1 in service aces to take the opening set 25-23.
Rachel Johnson had two kills and two aces, and UWEC turned a 17-18 deficit into a 22-19 lead before
Mya Cinnamo finished the set with a kill from
Alex Kiebel.
UW-Eau Claire out-killed UW-River Falls 17-11 in the second set, with
Mya Cinnamo recording six kills and
Brynlee Major adding four. UW-River Falls countered with three blocks, two service aces and points on eight Blugolds attack errors, taking the set 25-21 despite consecutive
Alia Schlimgen aces that put UWEC ahead 18-17.
The Blugolds out-killed UW-River Falls again in the third set. Despite having the 14-12 advantage, the Falcons took the set 25-22. UWRF added two service aces and two point-scoring blocks, while UW-Eau Claire's late push cut a 19-12 deficit to 22-20 before the visitors finished the set.
UWEC forced a fifth set with a fourth set victory, 25-20, finishing with a 16-12 edge in kills and getting eight kills from
Mya Cinnamo.
Alex Kiebel assisted on 10 Blugolds kills, while UW-River Falls got five kills and a service ace in the middle of the frame.
The Blugolds dropped the fifth set 15-12 despite three kills apiece from
Mya Cinnamo and
Rachel Johnson, with the home side totaling eight kills and two block points. UW-River Falls finished the set with 11 kills and used a four-point stretch from a 9-9 tie to move ahead 13-9.
Mya Cinnamo led UW-Eau Claire with 24 kills and 24.5 points.
Alex Kiebel finished with team highs of 35 assists and 25 digs.
Rachel Johnson added 15 kills, two service aces and 12 digs.
Lili Hagg tallied six kills on .500 hitting and a team-best six total blocks.
The Blugolds are 10-3 overall and 2-1 in WIAC play. UW-River Falls is 11-4 overall and 1-2 in WIAC play.
Up next, the Blugolds host their annual Blugold Alumni Tournament on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9 and 10, with their first game against Hope College at 7 p.m. on Friday at The Sonnentag in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
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