Pioneers to open NCAA III play Friday

UW-Platteville, fresh off its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference post-season championship, will face Dominican (Ill.) Friday in the first round of the NCAA Division III national playoffs, held at Carthage College in Kenosha.

The Pioneers will take a 31-3 record and 19-match winning streak into the re-match with the Stars. UW-Platteville defeated Dominican 25-21, 25-9, 25-18 in Williams Fieldhouse on Sept. 24. Friday's competition is at 5:30 p.m.

The winner of Friday's match will face the winner of the 24-13 UW-Oshkosh vs. 30-7 Carthage matchup. The other side of the eight-team bracket features 31-3 Wash U. against 19-11 Beloit and 28-8 UW-Whitewater against 23-15 Wartburg. The semifinals are set for Saturday, with the regional championship on Sunday.

UW-Platteville is playing in the NCAA III tournament for the seventh time in school history and the third time in four years. The Pioneers also made the NCAA III championships in 1983, 1992, 1997, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

"As I look at the season we've had, there has been steady improvement, especially since the halfway point," Pioneer Coach Deb Schulman said. "They've really matured and set the tone for the rest of the year."

Last fall, Nebraska Wesleyan beat the Pioneers in four sets in the NCAA III opening round. UW-Platteville has 10 players back from that squad.

"Last year's experience was very important for us," Schulman said. "Our freshmen really had no idea what the NCAA tournament was about, but now that they realize, they have a different mindset of what they'd like to accomplish."

The Pioneers have played six of the seven teams in the bracket, having 1-0 marks against Beloit, Dominican, Wartburg, and UW-Whitewater; 1-1 record against UW-Oshkosh; and an 0-1 mark against Wash U., the defending national champion.