RELEASED:  Saturday, November 11, 2007

Warhawks Advance To NCAA Women’s Volleyball Final Eight

St. Paul, Minn.--University of Wisconsin-Whitewater advanced to the final eight of the NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Tournament after edging the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) 30-32, 30-21, 30-28, 24-30, 15-13 in the regional championship at St. Thomas on Nov. 11.

The Warhawks will face University of Puget Sound (Wash.) in a national quarterfinal match on Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. in Bloomington, Ill.

The Warhawks won the 2002 and 2005 NCAA Division III championships, and tied for third in last year's tournament.

In the regional championship against the Tommies, it was apparent from the first game of the match, a 32-30 win for St. Thomas, that this was going five games.  UW-Whitewater won game two, an aberration in this match, 30-21.

St. Thomas jumped out to a 9-0 lead in game three, but that kind of lead wasn't safe on this night.  UW-Whitewater clawed back, taking their first lead at 29-28, when Kate Lazotte scored the game winner to put the Warhawks up 2-1 in games.

The Tommies again jumped out to a 9-0 lead again in game four, but UW-Whitewater came back to cut the margin to 26-24.  This time St. Thomas closed out the match with the last four points, making it 2-2 in games.

As they did all night, St. Thomas started fast in the decisive fifth game, going up 4-1.  But, as with the script for the rest of the night, UW-Whitewater came back to tie the game at 6-6.  The game was tied again at 7-7, 9-9, 10-10, 11-11, and 13-13 before the Warhawks were finally able to claim the final two points to win the match.

UW-Whitewater's Abby Schultz led both teams with 23 kills, second highest match total by a Warhawk this season.  Schultz also hit .291.  Kate Lazotte passed for 61 assists, and Kristina Conlin recorded 22 digs.  Carley Polk contributed eight blocks (two solo) and 15 kills.  St. Thomas was led by Katie McCaffrey's 19 kills and .309 hitting percentage. 

Katie Azaverskey added 16 kills and 20 digs, Emily Foster 61 assists, and Aly McConnell a match best 33 digs. 

UW-Whitewater hit .184, St. Thomas .156.  UW-Whitewater had seven service errors, St. Thomas eight; and the Warhawks had two ball handling errors to five for the Tommies.