By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information
The No. 4 UW-Whitewater volleyball team added two to the win column with a pair of sweeps Saturday to wrap up the Warhawks’ second home invite of the season. UWW opened the day with a win over Illinois College (25-10, 25-14, 25-20) before taking down Rose-Hulman in a tight three-setter (25-23, 25-21, 25-22).
The Warhawks cruised in the opener Saturday. UW-Whitewater opened the match hitting .647 in the first set to set the tone for the match. The Warhawks hit .370 for the match and continued to excel at the service line with 11 aces.
Four Warhawks hit over .600 in the contest — Aubrie Krzus had five kills in six attempts (.833), Amanda Hillmann had four in five attempts (.800) while Lexi Jensen (4-6) and Emily Lego (7-9) each hit .667. From the service line, Krzus (5) and Emma Bludgen (4) combined for nine aces.
Defensively, Abbie Dix led UWW at the net with three blocks including one solo. Natalie Lawton held down the backcourt with nine digs.
DiMotto paced the Warhawk offense in the second match of the day with 14 kills. Hillmann was the most efficient at the net with 8 kills in 13 attempts with a single error – an attack percentage of .538. Dix hit a career milestone in the contest, surpassing the 500-kill mark with eight in the match.
At the service line, DiMotto added four aces with Ella Jenkins tallying three – all three were consecutive aces in set two to give UWW set point.
Defensively, Dix and Hillmann combined for eight blocks in the middle (four each) while Lego posted three. Lawton added 18 digs to her weekend tally.
Krzus registered 36 assists as the Warhawks hit .276 as a team in the match.
All-Tournament Team
Abbie Dix – UWW
Gaby DiMotto – UWW
Amanda Hillmann – UWW
Ava Goldsberry – UWRF
Blessing Adebisi – UWRF
Julia Irmen – RHIT
Emma Blanton – RHIT
Riley Drake – IC
Warhawk weekend numbers for the three All-Tournament honorees:
DiMotto – 30 kills (3.75 per set), .364 attack percentage, 9 aces, 4 blocks
Dix – 20 kills (2.50 per set), .280 attack percentage, 12 blocks (1.50 per set)
Hillmann – 17 kills (2.13 per set), .615 attack percentage, 3 aces, 9 blocks (1.13 per set)
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The No. 4 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-15) sweep over UW-River Falls Friday evening in Russell Arena.
The Warhawks turned up the pressure about midway through the first and second sets using big runs to take hefty leads in each. The first set saw UWW go on a 10-2 run to open up a 17-7 gap. In set two, it was an 11-2 run that gave UW-Whitewater a 20-12 lead. Gaby DiMotto was brilliant in the first two sets. She hammered down six kills in seven attempts without an error in the first set before adding four kills on four attempts in set two.
The momentum carried into set three as the Warhawks jumped out to a 4-1 lead bolstered by a pair of aces from Emma Bludgen. UW-Whitewater continued to utilize the service line to their advantage. The Warhawks registered seven aces in the third set alone including three by DiMotto.
The UWW offense was on fire hitting over .400 across the first two sets and .338 for the match. DiMotto paced the offense with 13 kills in 19 attempts while committing a single attack error for a hitting percentage of .632 in the contest.
The Warhawks tallied 12 aces with DiMotto and Bludgen each recording four. On the receiving end, UWW had just one receiving error in 40 attempts on the night.
Defensively at the net, UWW posted eight total blocks with Abbie Dix leading the way with five. Fellow middle Amanda Hillmann added three.
Aubrie Krzus dished out 29 assists adding five kills, a pair of aces and two blocks.
UW-Whitewater will wrap up play in their second home invitational of the season against Illinois College (11 AM) and Rose-Hulman (1 PM) Saturday.
