No. 5 Wis-Eau Claire 3, RV Carthage 2 (25-20, 25-25, 14-25, 19-25, 16-14)
STEVENS POINT, Wis. - The Carthage women's volleyball team closed out the weekend with a match against No. 5 Wis-Eau Claire Blugolds on Saturday morning at the Papa John's Invite hosted by Wis-Stevens Point. The Firebirds found themselves down early before battling back to force a fifth set, before falling just short of a reverse sweep upset over the Blugolds.
Eau Claire controlled the early stages, taking the opening frame 25-20. The Firebirds built an early lead at 16-13 behind back-to-back kills from Kristina Manojlovic, but the Blugolds closed on a 12-4 run to take the set. Set two saw more of the same as Carthage struggled to find offensive rhythm, hitting just .000 as Eau Claire pulled away midway through for a 25-15 win and a 2-0 match lead.
With their backs against the wall, the Firebirds responded in emphatic fashion. Cassidy Stahl opened the third with a service ace, sparking a 7-1 start that included two kills from
Emma Crow and another from Manojlovic.
Jenna Damon kept the pressure on with consecutive aces midway through, and Carthage never looked back, hitting .429 in the frame on their way to a commanding 25-14 win.
The fourth set was tightly contested early before Carthage pulled away late. Tied at 15-15, the Firebirds strung together a 6-1 run capped by a block from Hailey Wierzgac and
Macy Wente to take control. Kills from Dettwiler and Manojlovic closed out a 25-19 win, sending the match to a decisive fifth set.
The finale was a nail-biter from start to finish. Carthage raced ahead 6-3 after a pair of kills from Katie Boston and another from Dettwiler, but Eau Claire answered to even the score at 9-9. The Firebirds pushed back ahead 13-11 on a Wierzgac kill, forcing a Blugolds timeout. Eau Claire rallied once more, tying the frame at 14-14 before capitalizing on two final points to escape with the 16-14 victory and the match.
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"Tough loss against a top 10 caliber team," said Head Coach Leanne Ulmer. "We struggled with our block and service pressure in the first two sets. Down two sets to none we flipped the script and started putting pressure on them. Our serve and block was much improved and our passing was solid so our setters had options to set. Up late in the fifth set we put ourselves in position to reverse sweep but a few service and hitting errors stopped our momentum. Lots of positives to take from a very good weekend of volleyball. Tina [Manojlovic] and Ava [Dettwiler] led us in kills. Hailey [Wierzgac], Katie [Boston] and [Emma Crow] had some clutch blocks and kills. Ava, Tatum [Kebisek] and Della Walsh all contributed in running the offense. Jenna [Damon], Cassidy [Stahl] and Tina did a nice job defensively. We need to build on the positives as we prepare for a big CCIW match against Illinois Wesleyan on Wednesday!"
The Firebirds (13-6) return to Tarble Arena on Wednesday, Oct. 8 as the Firebirds host No. 8 Illinois Wesleyan at 7 p.m. For more information, visit athletics.carthage.edu.
