Day One Review
TOP SEEDS ADVANCE AFTER FIRST ROUND
EAU CLAIRE - All of the top seeds advanced to the second round of NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Midwest Regional tonight with the University of St. Thomas and UW-Eau Claire winning in five games and Concordia-Moorhead winning in four games.
In the opening match of the Midwest Regional, No.9 University of St. Thomas rallied to defeat No. 10 UW-Oshkosh 3-2. The Tommies won by scores of 31-29, 23-30, 26-30, 30-26, 15-12 to advance to face the region top-seeded team and defending national champion UW-Whitewater.
UW-Oshkosh went up 16-8 in game one and had a game point at 29-28. However, the Tommies scored the final three points to take the first game 31-29. The Titans jumped out to an early lead in game two and this time hung on to that lead, winning by a score of 30-23 to even the match.
The Titans continued their success into game three, as the biggest margin they trailed by was 7-5. After that, Oshkosh scored six straight points on their way to winning game three 30-26 and take a two games to one lead. The Titans looked to close out the match in game four, but the Tommies scored nine of the last 12 points to survive and win 30-26 to force a fifth and deciding game. St. Thomas had 17 kills in the game, their highest of the match.
After a close start to game five, St. Thomas pulled away midway through and would go on to win 15-12. The Tommies had their best attack percentage (.304) of the match. Both teams finished with 67 kills, while St. Thomas had 35 blocks, compared to 19 for the Titans. Rachelle Dosch led the Tommies with 21 kills. The Titans were led by Leah Rosenbaum with 18 kills.
In the second first round match No.3 Concordia Moorhead (MN) defeated Beloit College 3-1. The Cobbers won by scores of 30-17, 30-28, 27-30, 30-25.
Concordia scored the first six points of game one as it took the game 30-17. In game two, the Cobbers were down 19-12 at one point, but came back to tie the 28-28. The Cobbers then won the final two points of game two to 30-28.
Beloit rallied after falling behind 13-9 to win game three 30-27 to extend the match to a fourth game. In a close fourth game that went back-and-forth, the Cobbers broke a 21-21 tie to win 30-25. The Cobbers finished with 65 kills in the match. The Buccaneers finished with 57 kills. Danielle Dahl led Concordia with 17 kills. Megan Maure and Alli Thomson each had 13 kills to lead Beloit.
Concordia improves to a record of 25-1, while Beloit's finishes with a record of 21-9. It was Concordia's 18th straight win.
In the best match of the night the host No. 7 UW-Eau Claire needed five games and then some to defeat Carthage College 3-2 with the game five score of 17-15.
The Blugolds won by scores of 30-17, 26-30, 25-30, 30-26, 17-15 to advance to face No. 3 Concordia-Moorhead (MN) in the second round.
In game one, the Blugolds used a lot of short sets on their way to winning the game 30-17. The margin was about five points until the Blugolds scored seven unanswered points to lengthen their lead. The Lady Reds jumped out to a 7-1 lead in game two. The Blugolds tied it 16-16, but Carthage went on to win the game 30-26.
In game three, Eau Claire took and early, however Carthage came back to take a lead of their own. The Lady Reds then scored 10 of the last 14 points to break a 21-21 tie and win game three 30-25. In a hard fought game four, the Blugolds pulled away midway through and went on to win game four by a score of 30-26 to stay alive.
Game five was as good as it gets. Carthage got ahead early, scoring the first five points of the game. The Blugolds then came back to cut the lead to 9-7. The Lady Reds extended their lead to 12 -7. The Blugolds then scored six of the next seven points to tie the score 13-13. The Blugolds then fought off two match points at 14-13 and 15-14. With the score 16-15 Eau Claire ended the match on a kill as the Blugolds move on with a 17-15 win. Jodi Dunbar finished with 23 kills to lead the Blugolds. Sarah Carlino and Ashley Kuehl each had 15 kills to lead Carthage.
The first semifinal will be No. 6 UW-Whitewater and No. 9 University of St. Thomas. That match will take place at 4:30 p.m. The second semifinal match is No. 3 Concordia-Moorhead and No. 7 UW-Eau Claire. That match will be at 7:30 p.m. All of the action will take place in the McPhee Physical Education Center.
