Coming into the week, the Warhawks volleyball team was ranked 10th in the AVCA Division III Coaches Poll and had an opportunity to continue to rise in the rankings. The ’Hawks played six matches in four days and ended the week at 4-2.
The team battled through sickness and injury throughout the week, and while they didn’t go through their six games unscathed, the ’Hawks ended the week right, beating St. Scholastica 3-1 and Gustavus Adolphus College 3-0.
Head Coach Stacy Boudreau said she’s looking forward to get into conference play healthy.
“We’re really not at 100 percent, so for us to get four wins was pretty good,” Boudreau said. “We’re obviously disappointed we didn’t play better against St. Thomas and UW-Stevens Point, but we’ll play Stevens Point again in conference and hopefully we’ll be a different team at that point from a health standpoint.”
The ’Hawks started their week by defeating Rockford College and Carroll University in straight sets before suffering losses to the University of St. Thomas and UW-Stevens Point.
Setters Heidi Buss and Kim Frei led the team in assists against Rockford and Carroll, combining for 40 assists against Rockford.
Frei stole the show against Carroll later that day, notching 35 assists on her own.
Despite the team being nicked up and losing to St. Thomas and UW-Stevens Point, the ’Hawks’ Leanna Lillge, the conference kills leader, racked up 13 and 11 kills respectively. The two wins to end the weekend over St. Scholastica and Gustavus Adolphus College weren’t highlighted by any particular player, but rather were team efforts.
Lillge tallied 23 kills over the two games. Kelsey Nobilio, the team’s libero, recorded 44 digs, and against St. Scholastica alone, she had 30 digs, which was her second 30-plus dig match of the season.
Buss, the team’s leader in assists, said Frei and her try to work together as much as possible to get the offense going.
“We definitely try and do what we can to give our hitters the best options possible,” Buss said. “Our defense obviously is huge as well as our passing. We wouldn’t be able to do our jobs [without that].”
With conference play starting this Friday, coach Boudreau said she’s looking forward to her team having the time to recover throughout the week without having to play.
“The team is progressing every day, and hopefully we’ll be at 100 percent for Friday,” Boudreau said. “Mentally the team is ready and I expect we will be [healthy].”
The ’Hawks begin conference play this Friday, traveling to UW-Superior to take on the Yellow Jackets at 7 p.m.
The very next day, the team travels to UW-Eau Claire for their second WIAC match of the season, which is set to start at noon.
