Pioneer Volleyball drops season opener

UW-Platteville volleyball team fell to 16th-ranked Augsburg 3-1 (25-23, 25-2-, 17-25, 25-19) and to ninth-ranked St. Bendedict 3-0 (25-21, 31-29, 25-21) to open the season on Friday at the St. Bendedict Labor Day Tournament.

Live stats Box Score Box Score Box Score Box Score Live stats

Team Stats

Pioneer Volleyball drops season opener
August 29, 2014

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville volleyball team fell to 16th-ranked Augsburg 3-1 (25-23, 25-2-, 17-25, 25-19) and to ninth-ranked St. Bendedict 3-0 (25-21, 31-29, 25-21) to open the season on Friday at the St. Bendedict Labor Day Tournament.

In the opener, the Pioneers fell behind quickly, dropping the first two sets 25-23 and 25-20, before avoiding the sweep with a 25-17 third-set victory. Auggie sealed their first win of the year, winning the fourth-set 25-19. Freshman Allison Jensen led the Pioneers with 10 kills, followed by senior LeeAnn Mizgalski with nine. Sophomore Lindsey Decker tallied a game-high 19 digs.

In the opening set the Pioneers fell behind quickly, 10-4, but a pair kills by Mizgalski got the UW-Platteville on track, to trail Auggie 10-9. Augsburg never allowed the Pioneers to take the lead and went on to win 25-23.

Another slow start by the Pioneers put them into a 10-4 hole, and couldn't make a run, falling 25-20 in the second set.

UW-Platteville started the third set very clean and with the help of a couple of Auggie errors helped the Pioneers take a 6-3 lead. Augsburg managed to tie it up at 8-8, but a 4-0 run by the Pioneers put them back on top, 12-8. UW-Platteville then kept on rolling to beat Augsburg, 25-17.

The Pioneers fell into another to start the four-set, 5-1, but couldn't make a run to fall 25-19.

In the Pioneers' nightcap, nine serves errors proved to be the difference against the ninth-ranked Blazers, falling 25-21, 31-29, 25-21. Mizgalski led the team with nine kills, while Jensen and sophomore Jennifer Schmidt each recorded eight kills.

UW-Platteville got behind early, but fought through the early mishaps to take a 13-10 advantage. The Blazers answered with a 15-8 run to take the first set 25-21.

The Pioneers didn't let the first-set setback get them down, as they took a 10-4 second-set lead. The Blazers tied the set up at 19-19 and with a narrow margin for error down the stretch a pair of Pioneer attack errors gave the Blazers the 31-29 victory.

In a very evenly played third-set, the Pioneers went up 21-20, but the Blazers rattled off five points to seal the win, 25-21.

The Pioneers' schedule doesn't get any easier as they take on third-ranked WIAC foe UW-Stevens Point at 9 a.m. then Concordia at 11 a.m. on Saturday.