Last weekend, the American Volleyball Coaches Association had the Warhawks ranked No. 24 in its preseason poll.
Last weekend was also when the first of three UW-Whitewater Invites were held in the Kris Russell Volleyball Arena.
“Our goal was to come out 4-0,” head coach Stacy Boudreau said. “We have a very young team and haven’t really set a lineup yet, but our defense played great and it feels good to come away with four wins.”
On Friday and Saturday, the `Hawks will look to keep it rolling when they will travel to Washington University of St. Louis for the Asics National Invite.
The ‘Hawks will face Washington University of St. Louis, Ohio Northern, Carthage College and Christopher Newport University.
Washington, Newport, and Carthage are ranked 3, 4, and 11 respectively in the AVCA top 25 poll
The ‘Hawks next home match will be on Sept. 16 when they host the second UW-Whitewater Invitational.
On Friday, the `Hawks started their 4-0 weekend when they defeated Wheaton College 3-1. The match was a defensive showcase where the `Hawks compiled an incredible 97 digs.
Five players recorded double-digit digs, and freshman Kelsey Nobilio led the way with 20.
The team easily won its second match of the day against Lakeland College 3-0. When serving, the `Hawks out-aced Lakeland 14-2, and beat them in kills 32-22.
On Saturday, the `Hawks opened play against Alma College. The Scots put up a great fight, but fell 3-1 to the `Hawks after the ‘Hawks dominated the box score.
The team saw production from several players on both the offense and the defense. The `Hawks had 10 blocks as a team, and five players with double-digit digs. Nobilio led the way with 21 this time.
Five of the `Hawks hitters had double-digit kills and sophomore Heidi Buss had an incredible 53 assists.
The `Hawks ended the weekend with a record of 4-0, but had their toughest game last against St. Norbert College, who was the only team from the invite to take two sets from Whitewater.
The `Hawks dropped the opening set 16-25, but would come back to win the next two 25-16 and 25-21.
The Green Knights would take the fourth set 19-25 to knot things up, but would fall short of a comeback as the `Hawks won the final set 16-14 to defeat St. Norbert 3-2.
