UW-Eau Claire women’s volleyball is coming off a sweep from the Sandy Schumaker Memorial Tournament this past weekend. The three weekend victories helped the Blugolds improve to 8-3 on the season and are amidst a six-game winning streak.

The Blugolds kicked off the tournament in the new Sonnentag Center facing Colorado College on Friday, Sep 13. The first set of the matchup was a tight one, tied at eleven a piece. After a service error by Colorado College resulting in a 23-20 Blugold lead, Colorado College would then go on to score 4 unanswered points to storm ahead 24-23. 

The teams ended up tying at 25, and would trade 7 straight points. After two points from the Blugolds and a response point from Colorado College, the set was tied at 30 a piece. The Blugolds responded with 2 straight points to win the first set.

The second set, like the first one, was another tight one at 15-15. Colorado College would then pull ahead 19-16 forcing the Blugolds to adjust and push for a comeback.

 The Blugolds would respond and did so by going on a 8-4 run putting them just one point shy from a set two victory. Colorado College would then respond by going on a run and eventually winning 28-26. 

Tied at one a piece, the Blugolds went on to take the lead in the middle of the set. The Blugolds went up 18-11 off of three straight Attack errors from Colorado College.

The Blugolds would go on to win the set 25-17 and capitalized off of Colorado College’s 12 errors that accounted for half of the Blugolds scoring. 

Up 2-1, the Blugolds got off to a 9-2 start in the fourth set with second-year outside hitter Mya Cinnamo accounting for the last five. Colorado College would go on five point run to get to 20-15, but could not make a comeback as the blugolds defeated Colorado College 25-18 winning the set and series 3-1.

Later that day, the Blugolds had a tough task in taking on their next opponent University of Chicago who was 8-1 heading into the match. The Blugolds got off to a slow start to the first set going down 14-7 off of five blugold errors. 

The Blugolds weren’t able to put points together and would fall 25-19 in the first set after a University of Chicago kill. Head Coach Kim Wudi knew they would have to clean things up if they wanted to win on Friday night. 

“Our servicing was pretty poor that first set and we weren’t taking care of the ball,” Wudi said. “We had quite a few errors.”

The Blugolds were able to clean up their errors and were more aggressive at the net. The Blugolds were able to prevail 25-23 and split the series at one apiece. 

Third-year Middle Blocker Darienne Andre said they felt the Blugolds did what they needed to in order to respond after a slow start and fight back.

“We talk about scoring our own points all the time and I thought that we really executed that. Just playing our own game, playing on our side of the net,” Andre said. 

In the third set the Blugolds would end up going down 20-17, but would go 8-3 in the next 11 points winning the third set 25-23, executing their gameplan of playing on their side of the net and making crucial digs at the end of the game to keep series alive while only having two errors.

With one more set needed to clinch a win, the Blugolds were up 24-18 needing one more point to end the game. The University of Chicago would win the next five points but the Blugolds would win the set off of a Kill by third-year Outside Hitter Hanne Johnson who was responsible for 12 points for the match. The Blugolds in the final set had a high of 18 kills.

The Blugolds before the game had a team discussion concerning unforced errors and giving away points. Johnson talked about the game plan heading into the match against The University of Chicago and what they needed to do to come out victorious. 

“I think it was a point of coming back to playing within ourselves and playing our game,” Johnson said. “Utilizing our aggression to be able to go out, score those points but eliminate those errors as well.”

After the first set, the Blugolds had just 13 errors and were able to open up more scoring opportunities with 49 kills. 

Wudi said she was pleased with how her team responded and were able to claim their fifth victory in a row. 

“They responded really well, they were smart, they were aggressive and really took some brave and courageous swings as we went through,” Wudi said. “Even when we were down they kept fighting and I think that’s a really good sign of progress within this team.”

The Blugolds would head into Saturday facing St. Catherine University, who was 8-3 heading into the game and 1-1 in the first 2 games of the tournament. 

The Blugolds started the game with four errors allowed on the first five points. The eight bBlugold errors in the set would prove costly as they couldn’t fend off St. Catherine’s 12 kills and would drop the first set 25-22.

Similar to the first 2 matches the Blugolds had in the tournament, that would be the only set they would lose. While it was close in the middle of the set at 16-15, the Blugolds would win the set 25-18. The set win was fueled by their 17 kills and just three errors.

The Blugolds would go on to take care of St. Catherine in the 3rd and 4th sets due in large part to their clean offense only causing five errors through two sets. They won the third set 25-15 and won the fourth set 25-20, securing a victory match.

Wudi, who is in her 18th season as the head coach, is seeing growth in her team and has been encouraged with how her team has responded to the ups and downs that the season has brought so far.

“They’re very high IQ, they really understand that and they’re really buying into that process of you don’t always need to get the big bounce kill or the glory kill,” Wudi said. “You got to just keep grinding and sometimes the other team will make a really great play even though you made a great play and then you just got to stay within yourself. I’m really pleased with how we did that tonight.”

For the Blugold athletes, the chance to play in Sonnentag and to be the first team to play a regular season game in Sonnentag was an exciting opportunity.

“It was so awesome, it was really great to be the first team to play here and the environment was amazing. I was really excited to come here and play in Sonnentag,” Andre said.

“It was really exciting, especially this last game we had a bunch of different Blugold athletes come out and support. The community came out and supported,” Johnson said.

The Blugolds will begin conference play against UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday, Sep. 18 in Stevens Point. They will look to extend their winning streak to seven.

Benes can be reached at [email protected].