University of St. Thomas Athletics
UW-Whitewater
Volleyball ousts No. 7-ranked Whitewater in playoff opener
11/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
In a battle of nationally-ranked teams, No. 14-ranked St. Thomas roared to a 3-0 win over No. 7-rated UW-Whitewater in Thursday's firsr-round NCAA Division III volleyball playoff match in Oshkosh, Wis. St. Thomas (25-7) won 25-19, 25-23, 25-17.
Coach Thanh Pham's Tommies advance to Friday's semifinal round and will play the Luther (Iowa), which rallied to win 3-2 over second-seed St. Ben's. In the evening matches, UW-Eau Claire topped St. Olaf and UW-Oshkosh topped St. Norbert, both in three sets.
Whitewater, in its 22nd NCAA playoff appearance, was eliminated in the first round for the first time since 2004.
The sixth-seed Tommies broke to a 6-0 lead in the first set and only trailed the third-seed Warhawks once all match, at 4-3 in the third set.
The Tommies posted a rare victory over a 30-win team and avenged losses to the Warhawks in the 2006 and 2007 NCAA regional playoffs. They also secured their fifth consecutive 25-win season.
Whitewater had won 15 of its last 16 matches.
For UST, Katie Bonine had nine kills and three aces; Kyley Crotty had nine kills and 12 digs; Emily Foster had 30 assists and eight digs; Kaitlin Wachter had 15 digs; and Alesha Nelson had seven kills and hit .294.
Click here for UST box score:
http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/2009OshkoshVolleyballRegional/Statistics1.html
Click here for tourney website with links to schedule and other box scores:
http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/2009OshkoshVolleyballRegional/index.html
NCAA Division III Volleyball UW-Oshkosh Regional Thursday's First-Round Matches St. Thomas def. UW-Whitewater, 25-19, 25-23, 25-17 Luther def. St. Benedict, 15-25, 25-12, 15-25, 25-18, 15-13 UW-Eau Claire def. St. Olaf, 26-24, 25-22, 25-18 UW-Oshkosh def. St. Norbert, 25-9, 25-8, 25-11
