Alayna Jansky goes up for an attack against UW-Stevens Point Wednesday (Michael Gouvion)
The No. 5 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater volleyball team fell to UW-Stevens Point in a tight five-setter 3-2 (25-19, 11-25, 22-25, 25-23, 15-11) Wednesday night.
The loss in Russell Arena broke a 20-match home win streak for UWW. Over the last four seasons, the Warhawks are 57-3 on their home court.
The Pointers jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first set. The Warhawks battled to within one, 18-17, but a late run gave UWSP the 1-0 match advantage.
UW-Whitewater dominated set two taking a 10-2 lead of their own. Another big run in the middle of the set had the Warhawks enjoying a 20-6 lead before evening the match with a 25-11 win. UWW hit .583 in the set hammering down 14 kills without committing a single attack error.
The Warhawks jumped out to a 6-2 lead in set three before the Pointers battled back to knot the set 7-7. The teams traded points and small runs until a string of three kills for UWW sparked the Warhawks. Alayna Jansky pounded down the first two and Hannah Proctor added the third to give UW-Whitewater a 22-17 lead. Abbie Dix put the finishing touches on the set with a kill to make it 25-22.
UWW looked to have the fourth set in hand with an 18-11 lead before UWSP came flying back. The Pointers rattled off five straight to narrow the gap to two. Jansky stopped the run with a kill, but UW-Stevens Point responded with three more to tie the set 19-19. The squads traded points with UWW taking a 23-22 lead when the Pointers notched three consecutive kills to force a decisive fifth set.
The Warhawks had an early lead and held an 8-6 advantage at the side-switch. UWSP evened the score 10-10 and then took the lead with a pair of kills, 12-10. Jenna Weinfurt found the floor on an attack to cut the margin to one, 12-11. The Pointers had the response once again with three straight points to take the set and match.
Both teams registered 62 kills in the match with the Warhawks holding the advantage in efficiency hitting .301 compared to .224 for UWSP. UW-Whitewater also tallied a 16-6 advantage in blocks.
Outside hitters Jansky (20) and Weinfurt (17) combined for 37 kills in the contest. From the middle Proctor and Abbie Dix tallied 13 kills in 20 attempts with just a pair of attack errors.
Defensively at the net, Dix registered 11 blocks for the second consecutive contest. Now averaging 1.43 blocks per set this season, Dix is the second-best blocker in the nation. Proctor, a top-10 blocker in Division III added five more to her season total Wednesday. Libero Jaedynn Evans had a game-high 17 digs while Weinfurt joined her double digits with 15.
Setter Aubrie Krzus posted 50 assists adding six blocks and four kills.
With three matches left in the conference slate, the Pointers lead the WIAC with a 4-0 record. UW-Oshkosh is second at 3-1. Four teams are tied for third at 2-2 including UWW, UW-Platteville, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout.
The Warhawks return to the court with a pair of matches this weekend. UWW will host Carthage Friday at 7 and Saint Mary’s (Minn.) Saturday at noon. Due to other events on campus, fans will have to pay for parking for these matches. Click here for more information.
