From Sept. 12 to 13 the University of Wisconsin La-Crosse volleyball team hosted their annual UWL invitational tournament. Winning it all, the Eagles finished the weekend with an impressive 4-0 record.
Fourth-year captain and defensive specialist Taylor Larson credited the team’s momentum for the performance saying, “From a good game last weekend and two good games on Wednesday, we just kept pushing. We came out like we were going to win the whole thing, and we did”.
The tournament tipped off Friday at 3 p.m. with the Eagles facing off against the College of Saint Scholastica. The team would take the first two sets with a dominating 25-13 opening set followed by a much closer 29-27 set.
St. Scholastica stormed back taking the next two sets with scores of 18-25 and 22-25. The Eagles would take the last set with a score of 15-11. Third year outside hitter Kayla Sexton pushed the Eagles over the top with a game leading 16 kills.
The Eagles’ second game had them facing off against the Green Knights of Saint Norbert College with a starting game time of 7 p.m. The first set would be highly contested as the Eagles would find themselves tied up at 23 apiece. Battling to finish they took the next two points to finish the set 25-23.
When asked about the challenges of a close set, Eagle’s Coach Deb Sazama had this insight, “The biggest challenge is ourselves, volleyball is a game of errors and it’s about keeping yourself composed through those errors”.
The second set against St. Norbert would be less climatic with the Eagles flying out to an 18-9 lead and finishing off the Green Knights 25-19.
When looking at the Eagles sideline the chemistry was apparent as every great play was followed by celebration from the rest of the team. Larson credited the team by saying, “Every single person on this team matters and has a place. If one of us takes a play off we’re probably not going to get that point, so we all have to work together as one team and have fun”.
The Eagles were able to persevere, closing out St. Norbert in the third set with a 25-22 win. First-year Maddy Wilson had a standout performance leading the team with 10 kills and 5 blocks aided by Larson’s 11 digs.
On Saturday, Sept. 13, the Eagles would tip off fresh at 11 a.m. against Martin Luther College. The team took the first set with a dominating 25-11 performance before losing the second set 21-25.
Coming back from the second set, UWL was able to take the next two sets with final scores of 25-17, and 25-14. Fourth-year outside hitter Reese Yocum contributed 10 kills and 3 blocks in the game, helping to lead the Eagles to victory.
The final game would pit UWL off against The University of Wisconsin-Superior at 3 p.m. The Eagles and UW-Superior would split the first two sets with the Eagles taking the first one 25-20 and UW-Superior taking the second 13-25.
The Eagles would pull through with the win, taking the next two sets with scores of 25-16 and 25-19. Kayla Sexton finished with 13 kills, Megan Lund with 25 assists and Taylor Larson with 17 digs. More stats and scores from the weekend can be found on the official UWL Athletics website.
This tournament performance brought the Eagles to 10 wins on the season, an increase of four from the team’s record of 6-24 last year. Larson was all smiles after the improvement saying, “It’s honestly more fun being able to play with your best friends and win at the same time. It’s awesome”.
Coach Sazama’s takeaways were focused on the future of the season. “Win and continue to learn, because come conference it’s going to be brutal. We’re going to face some good teams”.
The Eagles will return to play Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
