The UW-Eau Claire women’s volleyball team couldn’t keep up with an undefeated Viterbo University Wednesday night as they lost in straight sets in front of a home crowd in McPhee Physical Education Center.

The V-Hawks are ranked no. 2 nationally in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and overtook the Blugolds with set scores of 25-16, 25-19 and 25-16.

The V-Hawks had more height, and it showed at the net especially on the defensive side as the V-Hawks recorded 16 assisted blocks while the Blugolds only recorded four.

Head coach Kim Wudi said the team needs to learn how to properly attack the block in order to beat tall teams like the V-Hawks.

“When you play big teams you think you’ve got to hit around the block,” Wudi said. “Sometimes you have to go right at the block and use their block to score points.”

Coach Wudi said the team’s goal was to keep pace with the V-Hawks through 20 points each set and just see what happens at the end.

Although the Blugolds jumped to an early lead in the first set, they were unable to keep the V-Hawks from taking the lead as the set moved on.

“Anytime you let your guard down against a good team, even for a matter of two or three points, you give them that cushion and you just can’t get it back,” Wudi said.

At times in the match, the Blugolds kept pace with the V-Hawks. They went up 6-3 early in the first set, and after going down 1-7 in the second set, they fought back to bring the game within two points.

Senior captain Jenna Smits said playing at a high level only for spurts isn’t good enough to beat a team like the V-Hawks.

“When you play a good team like that you gotta keep up with the pace of the game, and I think we let it slide a little,” Smits said.

The Blugolds fared better at the Bethel tournament last weekend, winning all four matches they played in.

Eau Claire only lost two sets in four matches, notching wins against UW-Superior, Concordia College(Minn.), St. Olaf College (Minn.) and Martin Luther College (Minn.).

Junior Keagan Kinsella and senior Kelly Riesgraf led the Blugolds in kills, recording 38 and 37 respectively. Sophomore libero Talia Jaskulske had 42 digs in four matches.

Coach Wudi said she felt the team showed development over the weekend, especially with their communicated during the matches.

“All of these (communication tactics) take time to develop,” Wudi said. “And they were all areas we had improvement over the weekend.”

After the loss to the V-Hawks the Blugolds fall to 4-2. They will travel to Minneapolis over the weekend to participate in the Augsburg Invitational. On Friday they will play The University of Minnesota Morris and the University of Northwestern St. Paul (Minn.), while on Saturday they will play the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) and Augsburg College Minn.).