Whitewater, Wis. -- The Wheaton volleyball team took on two highly-ranked WIAC opponents in Saturday's Dig Panici Classic, being hosted by UW-Whitewater. The Thunder dropped both matches three sets to none and will look to bounce back when they return home to face North Park in their Senior Day match on Wednesday.
Wheaton's first contest of the day was against #11 Wisconsin-Eau Claire in a neutral site clash. After a
Briley Brogan kill to make it 2-2 early on, UW-Eau Claire won the next five points to build an important advantage in the first set. Halfway through the game, with the Blugolds leading 13-9,
Colleen Smith earned a kill to cut the lead to three. But any momentum for the Thunder was quickly sapped when Eau Claire went on a 4-1 run to strengthen their grip on the set. The Blugolds eventually closed out the first game with a 25-16 victory.
The second set got off to a back-and-forth start, and proved to be the match's most competitive game with five ties and a pair of lead changes. The Thunder seized an early 5-4 edge after an Eau Claire attack error. But the Blugolds won the next three points and managed to hold the lead the rest of the way. Wheaton cut their opponent's advantage to two four times in the middle of the set, but after taking a 13-10 lead, Eau Claire pulled away to close out the set at a 25-16 margin once again.
UW-Eau Claire made sure that the underdogs would not be able to pull off a famous upset when they wrapped up the match by winning the third set, 25-18. The eleventh-ranked team in the country got off to a hot start in the third game, picking up a service ace and four kills to establish a 6-2 lead. Despite the closest margin of victory of any of the three sets, the final game was also the most professional for Eau Claire as they kept the Thunder at arm's length and never allowed Wheaton to get within two points of their score.
Colleen Smith led the Thunder attack in Saturday's first match, picking up 14 kills and earning a .206 hitting percentage across the three sets.
Ashton Major had another solid performance with five kills in only two sets of action. Brogan and
Audrey Gerze also picked up four kills, and
Marlee Anderson led the team with 28 assists.
Allie High had eight digs to her name, Anderson added six of her own, and Smith and Gerze each picked up five. The first set was the strongest attacking performance for Wheaton as a team, with the Thunder earning 15 kills and posting a .216 attack percentage. Wheaton will likely be more disappointed with the final score than their play on the whole, as they were simply outmatched by a strong opponent.
Whitewater, Wis. -- Unfortunately for the Thunder, things did not get any easier in their second match on Saturday, when they faced #9 Wisconsin-Whitewater. Playing in front of a pro-Warhawks crowd, the Thunder knew they would be facing an uphill battle against their top-ten opponents. The match finished with the same 3-0 scoreline as the first, and it followed a similar pattern with two comfortable victories for the favored team followed by a more competitive third set.
UW-Whitewater got off to the perfect start, taking seven of the first eight points, and this initial hole proved too deep for the Thunder to climb out of as the first set progressed. The Thunder managed a pair of three-point runs in the middle of the set and again towards the end, but the Warhawks' lead was large enough to withstand the charge in both cases. Whitewater claimed the first set by a score of 25-13.
The two teams exchanged kills at the beginning of the second set, as
Caroline Capps helped Wheaton gain a foothold by claiming both successful attacks.
Naomi Bunker also contributed two kills as the second set continued, but the visitors were unable to sustain any run of points, as their opponents kept responding with runs of their own. Bunker and Smith combined for four points towards the conclusiojn of the game to put the score at 22-13, but the hosts sealed it off with back-to-back kills and a service ace. The second set finished with the same 25-13 margin.
A Whitewater service error, combined with kills from Bunker and
Kaylee Byerly, made for a competitive opening to the third set. However, five consecutive kills from the home side quickly seemed to extinguish any hopes of a Wheaton comeback. But the Thunder were determined to leave their mark on the game and forced their hosts to take notice by mounting a 10-3 run in the second half of the set. This put the score at 18-15 in favor of the Warhawks, and with the momentum firmly on the side of the away team, it looked like a second sweep could be avoided. But three consecutive points for Whitewater, coupled with a well-timed timeout from the hosts enabled them to close out the set and match without too much fuss. The Warhawks took the third set by a 25-18 margin, and condemned Wheaton to their fourth consecutive three-set defeat.
The Thunder posted a .132 hitting percentage in their second match of the day while earning 29 kills, two aces, and six total blocks.
Colleen Smith and
Naomi Bunker led the team with eight kills apiece, and Bunker maintained an impressive .429 attack percentage.
Marlee Anderson once again led the way in the assists column with 24 and the senior added seven digs to her stat sheet.
Audrey Gerze had four kills and a service ace to go with four digs in the match.
Allie High topped the digs category with nine against Whitewater.
Wheaton will look to end their four-match winless run against North Park on Wednesday in their final conference contest. The Thunder then wrap up their regular season with another Wisconsin-based tournament, the Warrior Invite in Milwaukee.
