Volleyball Preview: Stout opens conference season by hosting Falcons

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (9-5, 0-0 WIAC) will open conference play when they host UW-River Falls (8-7, 0-0 WIAC) Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m., then will be at the UW-Whitewater Invitational, Sept. 25-26 to face Williams College (5-2), Carthage College (11-1), Millikin University (9-4) and the University of Chicago (11-1). Williams, Carthage and Chicago are all ranked in the AVCA Top 25.

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

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: UW-Stout split a pair of matches at the Gustavus Adolphus College Invitational, defeating Concordia-Moorhead, 3-2, but then falling by an identical 3-2 margin against host Gustavus Adolphus, Saturday. Stout def. Concordia-Moorhead 25-19, 20-25, 26-24, 22-25, 15-11 and Ashley Pratt had 14 kills and Molly Brion had 13 kills to lead Stout; Emily Bialka had 46 assists. Kennedy Strain had two solo blocks, two assisted blocks. Gustavus Adolphus def. Stout, 25-18, 21-25, 24-26, 25-11, 15-10 and Rachel Tschumperlin had 14 kills to lead Stout. Emily Bialka had 43 assists.  | vs.Concordia-Moorhead and Gustavus Adolphus

A LOOK AT STOUT: The Blue Devils this year are led at the line by sophomore Ashley Pratt, who is averaging 2.91 kills per set, and Carly Troudt is averaging 2.18 kills. Senior Molly Brion is averaging 2.3 2kills. Pratt is currently ranked sixth in the WIAC in kills and 10th in hitting percentage (.282).  Brion is 18th in the league in kills. The Blue Devils utilize a two setter offense, with Maddie Phyle averaging 5.41 assists per set, ranking ninth in the WIAC. But Phyle was injured last week, allowing freshman Emily Bialka to jump her numbers up to 5.43 assists, good for eighth in the league. Freshman Kennedy Strain and Pratt are leading the team at the net defensively, with Kennedy averaging 0.78 blocks to 0.74 for Pratt.  Pratt has nine solo blocks and has paired for 34 assisted blocks. Strain leads the team with 13 solo blocks and has 22 block assists.  | 2015 Stats

STOUT LAST SEASON: With 20 wins, the 2014 Blue Devils put together more wins in a single season since the 2004 season. The Blue Devils will need to replace three players that loomed large last year and throughout their careers. Morgan Denny, a first team all-WIAC middle hitter pick, was the team's leading hitter the last two seasons. Karley Wiensch, an honorable selection for the last two years, is the only setter the Blue Devils have had for the last four years. Nicole Bradford, playing at the libero spot, led the team in digs. Molly Brion, an honorable mention all-WIAC pick, finished 12th in the WIAC in digs with 3.38, and finished with 1.87 kills per set. Sophomore middle hitter Ashley Pratt chipped in, with 2.23 kills per set, ranking 20th in the league, and ranked fourth in the WIAC in hitting percentage (.294). Outside hitter Laura Reiter contributed 2.57 kills per set, second on the team and 11th in the league. As a team, Stout finished third in the WIAC in hitting percentage (.209), fourth in assists (11.43), fourth in kills (12.16), sixth in blocks (1.62), fourth in service aces (1.32) and fifth in digs (16.72). | 2014 Stats

A LOOK AT THE UNIVERSITY OF RIVER FALLS: With the 2015 season well under way they have an over all record of 8-7. Rebecca Gasper leads the Falcons with 2.89 kills per set while Taylor Ferting follows closely behind with 2.21 kills per set. Gasper also leads with blocks (.72 per set). Lexi Pingel leads the team in digs (4.15 per set).  | 2014 Stats | 2015 Stats

RIVER FALLS LAST TIME OUT: The Falcons ended the weekend with an overall record of 1-3 at the Ripon College invitational. Losing their first match against St. Mary's (Minn.) the Falcons played hard 13-25, 14-25, 19-25. Molly Monahan led the team offensively with 5 kills. Lisa Keppers and Rebecca Gasper flanking her with 4 kills each. Leading the team in the defense Michaela Piechowski with 15 digs and Brianna Muetzel with 4 blocks. The Falcons won the second match against Ripon College 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-8. Michaela Piechowski led the team offensively with a weekend high 48 assists and Rebecca Gasper ending with 17 kills. Both Rebecca Gasper and Amara Meyer led the team defensively with 6 blocks. Gasper continued to push the offense leading the team with twelve kills but it was not enough and the Falcons fell to a loss 25-7, 19-25, 25-20, 17-25, 15-12. Kadie Brooks lead with 17 digs. The Falcons finished out the invitational with a 0-3 loss against St. Kate's 25-20, 25-14, 25-23. Brianna Muetzel led the team with 10 kills. Raven Klein leading with 31 assists.

THE LAST TIME STOUT AND RIVER FALLS MET: Despite a torrid comeback in the third set, the UW-Stout volleyball season came to an end when the Blue Devils dropped a 3-0 decision at UW-River Falls Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the WIAC Championship. After falling in the first two sets, 25-20, 25-16, and trailing 20-17 in the third set, Stout (20-10) rallied to tie the score at 22-22. But the Falcons (13-18) moved out to a 25-24 edge, and took the match with the 26-24 decision. River Falls' Brianna Muetzel led all players with 10 kills. Stout got eight kills from Olivia Jung. Ashley Pratt  and Molly Brion) each had seven kills. The Falcons had five service aces compared to none for Stout, the first time this season Stout had no aces. Raven Kline had three service aces for the Falcons.  Story and Statistics

AN OVERVIEW OF THE OPPONENTS AT THE UW-WHITEWATER INVITATIONAL: Stout will be at the UW-Whitewater Invitational, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 25-26 to take on Williams College (5-1), Carthage College (11-1), Millikin University (7-4) and the University of Chicago (11-1).


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 (29-15) 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 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 will be at UW-La Crosse, Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m., then will have the following weekend open.