Royal Purple

Issue date: 11/7/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Joy Kowald Sophomore outside hitter Kelly Sorensen goes for the kill as UW-Stout middle hitter Stephanie Nichols attempts to block it during UW-Whitewater's 3-0 win over the Blue Devils. The 'Hawks won the WIAC?tournament championship Saturday.

The Warhawk volleyball team is on its way to nationals for the 16th consecutive year after ousting UW-Platteville, 3-1 (30-17, 21-30, 30-14, 30-23), in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship Saturday.

The team is guaranteed a spot in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III championship tournament, which begins tomorrow, and will play Concordia-Moorehead University (Minn.) in the first round.

"I'm very, very excited to make it back to nationals," Head Coach Stacy Boudreau said. "This is a great position for us to be in. There's a couple of other teams that might get in [the tournament], but we just don't know at this point. So, for us to get the automatic bid makes us [feel] comfortable and confident because we know we're going to be playing next week."

Making it past the WIAC battle was the team's goal at the start of the season, and senior Abby Schultz is thrilled to return to the biggest tournament of the year.

"It feels amazing," Schultz said. "Every year is always a challenge because our conference is so tough. There's so many teams that have so much [talent]…and it just feels incredible right now."

UW-Platteville, a team that dismantled the WIAC's second and third place teams, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Eau Claire, managed to steal a game against the Warhawks. However, the quartet of Schultz, Carley Polk, Sarah Theis and Kelly Annen wouldn't let the team down, totaling 44 kills against an upstart and fierce Pioneers team.

"Our hitting was very strong, we played defense really well, and we hit the right spots," said Schultz, who also had 23 digs in the match.

Senior Kate Lazotte assisted most of the team's kills, dishing off 42 assists, while the 'Hawks had a hitting percentage of .264 and Platteville .020. The Warhawks also had a kill total of 50 to the Pioneers' 33, along with a 13-5 advantage in team blocks.

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