KENOSHA, Wis. – The Concordia Wisconsin women's volleyball proved once again that they will play anyone, anywhere, as they continued their whose who of Division III volleyball tour. On Saturday the Falcons faced No. 13 Wisconsin-Platteville and Carthage, two staples of Midwest volleyball. Concordia opened the afternoon with a 22-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-20, 15-12 victory and closed the day with 15-25, 22-25, 19-25 loss to the Firebirds.
Wisconsin-Platteville led for a majority of the first set on Saturday, but a kill from sophomore Kayla Mulder (Whitehall, Mich.) tied the set at 14. The Pioneers then used a 4-0 run to gather some leverage to close the set.
The Pioneers leaped out to a big lead out of the gate in the second set and held a 17-7 margin. The Falcons showed no quit and continued to chip away at the lead and a kill from senior Noelle Smith (Davenport, Iowa) shrunk the lead to 24-22, before the Orange and Blue took the next point.
The Falcons built a 4-0 run behind the serve of senior Brianna Lundt and built their largest lead of the day at 10-6. UWP stormed back and then held an 11-10 lead before the serve of sophomore Madison Cimbalnik (Sturtevant, Wis.) froze the Pioneers with a 6-0 run. The Birds soared at the end of the set and stayed alive with a shot from senior Abby Proefrock (Grafton, Wis.) at 25-19.
The serve of Madison Cimbalnik trapped the Pioneers once again in the fourth set and broke a 6-6 tie with four-straight points. The Falcons never looked back and a kill from senior Skylar Kumprey (New Berlin, Wis.) forced a fifth set at 25-20.
The Falcons rode that momentum to an early lead in the fifth set. The Pioneers showed why they are ranked and tied the set late. After a service error, the Birds pulled off the comeback with a blast from senior Paige Stickney (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) at 15-12.
Paige Stickney dominated the match with a match-best 22 kills, while hitting, 0.429 and producing nine blocks.
The backrow was buzzing for the Blue and White with 98 digs against the Pioneers. Brianna Lundt finished with 24 and McKenna Oetzman had 22 to go with her two service aces and 41 assists.
Concordia jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first set against Carthage, but momentum quickly turned and Carthage took the set at 25-15.
The Blue and White held a three-point lead on three occasions in the second set, but once against Carthage escaped at 25-22.
Like the previous two sets, the third started out with promise and a service error gave CUW a 14-9 lead, but it was not meant to be.
Kayla Mulder and Paige Stickney both had six kills in the second match, while Brianna Lundt led the defense with 14 digs.
The Falcons will travel down to Greenville on Thursday before traving to the WashU Bear Invite.
