To contend for the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship tournament, a volleyball team must place in the top six. Currently, UW-Eau Claire stands at seventh.

And with every game leading one step closer to the playoffs, Eau Claire came up short against Minnesota-Morris (Minn.).

Losing 25-14, head coach Kim Wudi said her team struggled to find a rhythm in the first set. By only executing five kills on 46 attempts with five errors, the team had a hitting percentage of .000 entering the second set.

In the second, Eau Claire never trailed. After going up 15-7, the Blugolds did not let the Cougars come within two points of tying en route to the 25-22 win.

With the score tied, Eau Claire and Morris stayed close until the Blugolds came from behind with a 4-0 run to get up 24-23. Morris tied it up and then both teams scored back and forth until Morris took the two-point advantage, 29-27.

Wudi said she felt her team should’ve had set three, but couldn’t finish the set.

Set four began with back and forth scoring until the Cougars clawed their way to a 24-17 lead. Even with a last minute scoring run of four points from the Blugolds, Morris only needed a point and got the point to finish the match.

After losing 3-1, Eau Claire dropped to 15-15 overall. With a chance to make the playoffs, Eau Claire is set to face UW-Stout at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the McPhee Physical Education Center.