The Women’s volleyball team at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville hosted a five-team tournament on Oct. 4. The Pioneers split the sets, winning two out of the four total games.

The Pioneers began Friday, the first night of the tournament, with a 3-1 win over the Clarke University Crusaders. The sets resulted in scores 25-22, 22-25, 26-24 and 29-27.

During the first of the four sets, the Pioneers totaled an impressive 16 kills and eight blocks. UW-Platteville maintained the lead throughout the duration of the set with a key kill performed by freshman outside hitter, Allison Jensen.

The second set proved problematic for the Pioneers as they accumulated nine total attack errors. The set resulted in a 25-22 Crusader victory.

The Pioneers gained an early lead in the third and maintained a strong defense until the Crusaders came back with powerful kills and blocks, tying it up 24-24.  UW-Platteville took advantage of a Crusader error and won the set 26-24.

After winning the third set, UW-Platteville capitalized on blocks, defending three match points, to win 29-27.

The second game against the Augustana College Vikings resulted in a 3-2 loss.

A late Viking surge in the first set contributed to a Pioneer loss 26-24.

Building momentum, the Pioneers came back to win the second set 25-16.

Similarly, UW-Platteville began with an early set back in the third but finished strong 25-20.

The Vikings responded in the fourth set, as a 10-1 standstill quickly turned in a 17-12 Augustana lead. The Vikings won the set 25-22.

This lead to a necessary fifth set where senior outside and middle hitter, LeeAnn Mizgalski, made a powerful kill but was offset by subsequent Viking kills.

The fifth set ended in a 15-12 Viking win.

The second day of the tournament began Saturday with a game against the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons. The Pioneers defeated the Falcons 3-1.

The Pioneers dominated the first set with an early 18-10 lead. With key plays by Jensen and junior outside hitter, Jennifer Schmidt, the Pioneers won the set 25-17.

The Pioneers started off the second set slow as the Falcons took an 18-13 lead. UW-River Falls finished the set 25-23.

UW-Platteville took a commanding lead at the start of the third set and concluded with a 25-15 victory.

UW-River Falls maintained a significant lead throughout a majority of the fourth set. With the score 22-13 the Pioneers responded by scoring the three consecutive points.  With a new attitude UW-Platteville completed powerful kills to score the next six points winning the set 26-24.

Going into the fourth game, the Pioneers found difficulty adjusting to the strong back row of the Carthage College Lady Reds. The game resulted in a 3-0 Pioneer loss.

The first set ended with a 25-12 Carthage victory.

Similarly, the Pioneers struggled to hit their stride in the second set losing to the Lady Reds 25-16.

Succumbing to the dynamic efforts of Carthage once again, the Pioneers fell to a 25-19 loss.

Mizgalski sees the results of this tournament as an improvement, compared to previous games.

“The highlight of the tournament was beating UW-River Falls in a re-match,” Mizgalski said. “We made a lot of improvements over the weekend and gained a little more confidence in our game by getting a couple more wins.”

Mizgalski said that during this week’s practices the team is going to focus on keeping their energy up as well as taking care of the ball behind the service line.