UW-Platteville Rallies to Defeat UW-River Falls in Five

To extend its home winning streak to 14 games, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville volleyball team won the final two sets to win a five-set match over UW-River Falls, 21-25, 25-19, 15-25, 25-19, 15-12.

It is the second five-set win by the Pioneers in 2011, who improve to 10-5 and 2-1 in the WIAC. The Falcons, who reached the fifth set for the first time in 2011, falls to 9-6 overall and 1-1 in the WIAC.

The Pioneers' Samantha Rampart hammered down 18 kills en route to her first double double of the season with 12 digs and Stephanie Kirchner also had a double double with 14 kills and 20 digs to go along with three block assists for UW-Platteville.

The Falcons' attack featured three different players with double-digit kills including a team-high 16 kills from Jean Theis. Danielle Gibbemeyer and Erin Green each had 12 and 11 kills, respectively.

UW-Platteville closed out the fourth set with a 6-2 run that included four kills by Rampart to send the match to a fifth and deciding set. In the fifth set, the Pioneers jumped out to a 6-2 lead and a resilient Falcons squad rallied to get within one, 9-8 which prompted a UW-Platteville timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Pioneers scored six of the next seven points to complete the come-from-behind victory.

The Pioneers are back in action on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at Viterbo at 7 p.m.