The University of Wisconsin-Platteville volleyball team dug out of a two-set hole and beat Cornell College 25-17, 22-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-13 on Wednesday night at Williams Fieldhouse in Platteville, improving to 18-8 on the season, Pioneer Athletics reported.
Cornell (14-9) won the middle two sets, but the Pioneers erased an 18-15 deficit in the fourth with seven straight points, then opened the fifth on a 6-1 run to close out the match before a Senior Night crowd Friday against UW-La Crosse.
The comeback started in the opening frame. UW-Platteville took set one 25-17 after a five-point run midway through, with kills from freshman Lauren Abbott and senior Bria Johnston. Cornell answered by pulling away late in each of the next two sets, winning set two 25-22 and set three 25-23 to take a 2-1 lead.
Set four belonged to the Pioneers. Trailing 18-15, they scored seven consecutive points to swing the set, with Johnston serving three aces during the run and Abbott and junior Brooklyn Radecke adding kills. Senior Kennedy Wenger ended the set with a kill at 25-21, sending the match to a fifth.
UW-Platteville never trailed in the decider. The Pioneers jumped to 6-1 behind two kills from Radecke and one each from Wenger and Johnston. Cornell cut the lead to 13-12, but kills by Abbott and Radecke clinched the five-set victory.
Four Pioneers reached double-digit kills. Johnston led with 21, matching her career high, while Abbott posted a career-high 16 kills on a team-best .387 hitting percentage. Radecke finished with 14 and Wenger with 13. As a team, UW-Platteville totaled 73 kills, a new season high.
Defensively, Radecke and Johnston both posted double-doubles, with 17 and 11 digs respectively, and five Pioneers reached double-digit digs overall. Sophomore Delali Amankwa matched Radecke with a team-high 17 digs and added a team-high 29 assists, while junior Kennedey Barber had 16 digs and junior Laura Boberg recorded 18 assists and 10 digs.
The win sets up the regular-season finale Friday at 7 p.m. against UW-La Crosse, with the Pioneers closing play at 18-8.
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