The Warhawk women’s Volleyball team was  able to bounce back for two wins after getting swept in the first of three matches in their game series at the 2019 Wittenberg Fall Classic, hosted By Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.

The Warhawks opened up the tournament with a loss against the host Wittenberg Tigers on Friday night, losing all three sets in the match by scores of 25-22, 25-16, 25-22. In the first set, The Warhawks held an advantage 17-10 at one point, but were unable to hold off a Wittenberg rally. Wittenberg went on a 5-15 run, and won the first set.  The Tigers then took control of the matchup with a strong showing in the second set, as they cruised to a 25-16 victory. The third set of the match was a closer contest, with both squads trading the lead throughout.  Again, the Warhawks were leading 17-15, but were unable to keep the lead as they allowed another Tiger rally and losing the game 25-22, and sealing the sweep for the Tigers.

Saturday however, the Warhawks luck changed. They were able to take both of their final two matchups of the Classic in competitive wins.

They beat No. 21 Ohio Northern University and Heidelberg University, which pleased Coach Stacy Boudreau.

“We did a good job bouncing back from yesterday. We did not play how we wanted to yesterday” said Boudreau.

The Warhawks were able to triumph over the Polar Bears of Ohio Northern in four sets winning 25-18, 12-25, 25-20, 25-14 and set the tone for the rest of classic. The Warhawks had to battle through adversity, after losing the second set in an error filled affair. They had to make a comeback early in the third set, trailing the Polar Bears 8-2 at one point, but Whitewater finished the set with a convincing 25-20 win, and clinching the matchup with a powerful 25-14 win in the fourth set.

“It’s been really awesome to see so many people come in and compete so well. We competed well,” said Boudreau. “We beat quality teams playing different lineups. We’re versatile, and that’s helped us.”

In the third matchup against Heidelberg University, the Warhawks had to gut out a competitive win, with the match going five sets but concluding in a Whitewater victory, 25-16, 25-17, 17-25, 15-25, 15-6.

“Our confidence was pretty high despite not scoring a lot of points in the two games prior. We knew how confident we were in the first two games,” said Senior Ashton Doll after facing Heidelberg. “We came out so strong on the first few points and our energy was up. I had a good feeling that we were going to dominate that last set.”

With the win over Heidelberg, The Warhawks improved to 8-3 on the season.

Whitewater Freshman Morgan Jensen said, “Our mentality was that we didn’t travel the entire state of Indiana to lose in five. We really wanted to stick it to them. We don’t like to lose. We’re Warhawk volleyball.”

The announcement of the All-Tournament team included Freshman Chloe Buescher, who totaled 36 kills, 1 ace, and 6 blocks over the course of the tournament.

The Warhawks will return home to continue their campaign by hosting No. 9 UW-Eau Claire Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Russell Arena.