Volleyball Preview: Stout at Eau Claire Wednesday, at Coe for weekend

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (14-13, 2-2 WIAC) return to conference play, Wednesday, Oct. 21, when they travel to UW-Eau Claire (20-7, 2-2 WIAC) for a 7 p.m. contest. Stout will be at the Coe College Mabel Lee Invitational, Oct. 23-24 to face host Coe College (16-10, 2-3 IIAC), the University of Dubuque (14-13, 2-3 IIAC) and Luther College (18-8, 4-1 IIAC).

ON-LINE: All home Blue Devil matches are available in a live video stream.

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT:  The Blue Devils defeated St. Scholastica, 3-2, Oct. 13, then traveled to the UW-Eau Claire Invitational, where they defeated Concordia-Moorhead, 3-1 and Buena Vista 3-2, but lost to St. Benedict, 3-0, and UM-Morris, 3-1.  Ashley Pratt was selected to the UW-Eau Claiire Sandy Schumacher Memorial all-tournament team.  

A LOOK AT STOUT: The Blue Devils this year are led offensively at the net by sophomore Ashley Pratt, who is averaging 2.67 kills per set, and freshman Kennedy Strain, who is averaging 2.08 kills. Carly Troudt is averaging 1.95 kills per contest and Molly Brion and Laura Reiter are both averaging 1.88 kills. Pratt is currently ranked 10th in the WIAC in kills and seventh in hitting percentage (.270).  The Blue Devils utilize a two setter offense, with Emily Bialka averaging 5.47 assists per set, ranking seventh in the WIAC, and Maddie Phyle averaging 4.91 kills per set. Pratt and freshman Kennedy Strain are leading the team at the net defensively, with Pratt averaging 0.83 blocks to 0.73 for Strain.  Strain has 15 solo blocks with 43 block assists, while Pratt has 12 solo blocks and 64 block assists. Pratt ranks fifth in the league in total blocks and Strain 10th. 

CLIMBING THE LADDER: Molly Brion passed the 1000 digs plateau for her career. Needing only three digs going into the Eau Claire tournament to hit 1000, Brion currently has 1044 career digs.

A LOOK AT UW-EAU CLAIRE: Eau Claire is lead at the line by Katrina Raskie (2.73 kills per set) and Hanna Theisen (2.49 Kills per set). Kelly Riesgraf and Kegan Kinsella take the lead in blocks, .74 per set and .63 per set respectively. The Blue Golds have a 20-7 over all record with a 2-2 conference record. Juliana Burzynski was chosen as the Student- Athlete Spotlight for the week of Oct 12. 

UW-EAU CLAIRE LAST TIME OUT: The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women's volleyball team finished the Nike/Eastbay Sandy Schumacher Memorial Tournament undefeated with two victories on day two.In match one, the Blugolds topped a tough opponent in Saint Benedict College (25-23, 17-25, 25-17, 25-21), who entered the match fresh off a 3-0 sweep of the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Eau Claire took a hard fought first set thanks to a teamwork-fueled comeback after going down 14-18 late in the set. In set two, the Blugolds would struggle defensively, and would not overcome an early four-point deficit. Eau Claire was able to pull away at the end of the match, taking both the third and fourth sets to seal the victory. Hannah Theisen (Sr.- Rochester, Minn./Mayo) and Kelly Riesgraf (Sr.-Chaska, Minn./Chaska) led the Blugolds with 12 kills each. UW-Eau Claire then went on to take their second match of the day against the University of Northwestern-St. Paul in a clean sweep (25-21, 25-22, 25-21). It was all Blugolds early on, jumping out to a 2-0 set lead, then going down late in the third, 16-20. Head coach Kim Wudi called timeout to rally the team together, sparking a 9-1 Blugold run to finish off the match. Katrina Raskie (Jr.-Weston, Wis./D.C. Everest) continued her dominance and led the Blugolds with 11 kills. Both Raskie and Riesgraf were named to the All-Tournament Team. 

THE LAST TIME STOUT AND UW-EAU CLAIRE MET: UW-Eau Claire came back from a first set deficit and went on to defeat UW-Stout, 25-20, 25-19, 25-20, during the 2014 season at Zorn Arena. The Blue Devils held as much as a five point lead in set one, only to see the Blugolds  come back and take the set. Stout got 11 kills from both Laura Reiter and Ashley Pratt. Molly Brion finished with eight kills. Katrina Raskie led the Blugolds with 11 kills, and Kelly Reisgraf had eight kills with 10 block assists.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS AT THE COE COLLEGE INVITE: Stout will be at the Coe College Mabel Lee Invitational, Oct. 23-24 to face host Coe (16-10, 2-3 IIAC), the University of Dubuque (14-13, 2-3 IIAC) and Luther College (18-8, 4-1 IIAC). Stout lost 3-0 last year to Coe, and defeated Luther College, 1-0, last season. Stout last played Dubuque in 2011, losing 3-0. 

TEAM CAPTAINS: Captains for the 2015 season are seniors Laura Reiter and Molly Brion and sophomore Maddie Phyle. Reiter and Brion were both captains for the 2014 season.

UW-STOUT COACH LAURA EVANS: Coach Laura Evans (34-23) is in her second year as the Blue Devil coach. In her first season, the Blue Devils posted 20 wins, the first 20-win season since 2004. Evans, the former Laura Hegerle, played her college volleyball at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minn. She has been an assistant coach at Colorado Christian, Augsburg College and Luther College.

QUICK HITS: The Blue Devils last season posted a 20-10 overall record, finishing with 20 wins for the first time since the 2004 season and finished fourth in league play, again their best finish since the 2004 season...Stout improved in the WIAC final statistics in hitting percentage, assists, kills, blocks and service aces from the previous year...Stout was picked to finish fifth in the WIAC in a preseason poll conducted by conference coaches and sports information directors.

AWARDS: Ashley Pratt was selected UW-Eau Claire Sandy Schumacher Memorial Tournament all-tournament team, Oct. 17...Molly Brion was selected to the UW-Whitewater all-tournament team, Sept. 26...Ashley Pratt was selected to the Loras College Invitational all-tournament team...Ashley Pratt was selected as the UW-Stout/Northwestern Mutual Athlete of the Week, Sept. 8...Carly Troudt and Ashley Pratt were named to the Pacific Coast Classic all-tournament team...2014 Awards: Morgan Denny was a first team all-WIAC selection, while Karley Wiensch was an honorable mention selection for the second time, while Molly Brion was an honorable mention selection for the first time...Nicole Bradford was the UW-Stout/Northwestern Mutual Athlete of the Week after Stout went 3-1 from Oct. 6-11...Laura Reiter was selected to the all-tournament at UW-La Crosse, Oct. 4....Morgan Denny was the UW-Stout/Northwestern Mutual Athlete of the Week after her performance at the St. Kate's Invitational, Sept. 19-20...Morgan Denny and Karley Wiensch were named to the St. Kate's Invitational all-tournament team, Sept. 20...Morgan Denny was named to the Macalester College all-tournament team, Sept. 6...Kaylee Jacobs was selected to the all-tournament team at the St. Olaf/Carleton Invitational, Aug. 29..the entire 2013 squad was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) with the Team Academic Award for the fourth time in five years.

DOWN THE ROAD: The Blue Devils close out both the regular season and the conference season when they travel to UW-Stevens Point, Friday, Oct. 30, and to UW-Oshkosh, Saturday, Oct. 31.