The Blugold women’s volleyball team had a victorious weekend, winning on the road against UW-Platteville and UW-La Crosse.

Their first victory was a tough one against UW-Platteville on Oct. 1 at Williams Fieldhouse (3-2) in which they had six fewer kills than their opponent but ten fewer errors.

“It was a tough match,” said Head Coach Kim Wudi. “Platteville is a very scrappy team so it was difficult to get things going offensively.”

Outside hitter Rachel Ver Voort agrees with Wudi.

“The match against Platteville was tough physically and mentally,” Ver Voort said. “They have a very strong team and the match was a back-and-forth battle each game.”

In the first set, the Blugold ladies started slow and fell 25-17. But they were able to win the next two sets, 25-19 and 25-23, before losing again to the Pioneers in the fourth, 25-21.

“Losing the first set by playing far from our best volleyball made us realize that nobody is going to hand us the conference title and we have to earn it,” Ver Voort said.

The final set was a competitive one with both teams scoring and keeping the set close. With the Blugolds up 14-12, outside hitter Amy Bomgren and right-side hitter Elizabeth Anderson combined for a block, giving the Blugolds the victory.

“Our front row blocked exceptionally well against Platteville and I think that was a key difference in the match,” Wudi said.

The Blugolds second victory was against UW-La Crosse (3-1) at Mitchell Hall Oct. 2, where they had 25 more kills than their opponent and three fewer errors.

Despite losing in the first set, the Blugolds reacted and the team won the next three sets. Middle blocker senior Danielle Lucia finished the match with 13 kills and setter Amanda Lessner had a match-high 38 assists.

Coach Wudi said the Blugold ladies weren’t ready to start the match, which caused a frustrating slow start again against UW-La Crosse.

“(However) the girls showed resilience and played better the rest of the match,” she said.

The team had 103 kills and 51 attacking errors in their two wins.

Coach Wudi said the team played well enough to win overall, but she thinks the team is not satisfied by the way they have been playing.

“We need to find a way to play more consistently and reduce the number of errors we make.”

Ver Voort said the team needs to start stronger in the future. By not playing aggressively, it could end up costing them matches down the road.

“We have found some areas to improve on,” she said. “But we came away with two huge conference wins this weekend and at the end of the day that’s what really matters.”

The Blugolds will next face Northland Col- lege at 6:30 p.m. and the College of St. Scho- lastica (Minn.) at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in Duluth, Minn.