UW-La Crosse beat UW-Platteville 3-2 on Friday night at Williams Fieldhouse in Platteville, taking the match 28-26, 16-25, 11-25, 25-19 and 15-12. The win left UWL at 13-15 overall and 3-4 in the WIAC, while Platteville moved to 18-9 and 3-4 in league play.
UWL took the opening set the hard way, rallying after Platteville led 24-21. Three straight kills tied the set at 24, and after it was tied again at 26, a Grace Turlais kill and a Pioneer error finished the 28-26 win.
The next two sets went to Platteville. An 8-0 run carried the Pioneers to the second set, and two shorter runs put the third set out of reach at 25-11, giving the home team a 2-1 lead.
The Eagles answered in the fourth, scoring 11 of 12 points at one stage to build an 18-9 lead on the way to a 25-19 win. In the fifth, UWL trailed 9-3 and later 12-9 before scoring the match's final six points to win 15-12.
Charley Casey led UWL with 11 kills and hit .391 for the match. Turlais, Maddy Wilson and Sydney Marx each added eight kills, Izzy Reichert and Lex Champeau each handed out 20 assists, and Megan Jasperson recorded a team-high 21 digs.
Even with the win, UWL's season ended at 13-15. The Eagles finished in a three-way tie for fifth in the WIAC with UW-River Falls and UW-Platteville, and the tiebreakers gave the final two conference tournament spots to Platteville and River Falls.
