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| Leslie White digs a Pointer shot Tuesday |
Posted November 3, 2009
UW-Platteville beat UW-Stevens Point 19-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-23 in the WIAC quarterfinals Tuesday night, earning the third-seeded Pioneers a trip to the league semifinals and a matchup with second-seeded UW-Whitewater.
The Pioneers and Warhawks meet Friday at 5 p.m. at top-seeded UW-Oshkosh. The Titans play host to UW-Eau Claire in the second semifinal. The third-place match is Saturday at noon, followed by the championship at 2:30 p.m.
UW-Platteville, now 22-12 overall, will be the only team not nationally ranked in the Final Four. UWO is the NCAA Division III's top team, UWW seventh, and UWEC 18.
"We're excited," Coach Deb Schulman said. "Any time you can win an opening-round game in the conference tournament and go on to the Final Four is a great feeling. It was a battle tonight, and both teams put it out on the floor. It was a little sloppy at times, but it was back-and-forth and a good match."
The Pioneers avenged a 3-2 regular season loss to the Pointers, although they had to rally from a 1-0 deficit to do so. UWP jumped out to an 18-13 lead in the second set and 18-11 in the third on the way to winning.
The Pioneers appeared to have momentum their way in the fourth set as well, taking a 10-5 lead before UWSP rallied, tying the score at 14-14 then going ahead 16-14. The Pointers still held an advantage at 22-20 when Leslie White dug a ball nearly on the court, and Melissa Hillebrand converted it into a kill, making it 22-21. Although the Pointers scored the next point, UWP scored the final four to clinch the victory.
"There were quite a few big plays at the end," Schulman said. "It's kind of weird because our defense was what we struggled with tonight, but it was our defense that we won with at the end. It was nice to see that."
Hillebrand and Briana Kaiser each had 13 kills to led the Pioneers, while White and Ali Sikic had 15 digs apiece.
Michaela Rhieneck made 12 kills, Kaitlin Wolfe 11, and Christina Brinkman 10 for the Pointers, who out-hit the Pioneers .188 to .175. Stevens Point finished its year at 13-23.
UW-Whitewater beat visiting UWP 25-22,21-25,25-17,25-11 back on Oct. 6.
"It's going to be another battle," Schulman said. "It's nice it will be on a neutral court. It's hard to play at Oshkosh, so whoever can pass the ball in that big gym will be successful. We're going to work a little bit on defense before we take off this weekend. Hopefully we'll fix a few things and be ready to go."
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