UW Whitewater Warhawks are Great Hosts

There is nowhere better to be on a Sunday in April than at UW-Whitewater to experience one of their many hosted events. UW-W Head Coach Stacy Boudreau and her staff of UW-W players do an outstanding job of running tournaments. Any team that has the opportunity to play in one of their events will leave knowing that their money was well spent. The halls of the Williams Center boasts seven courts, three of which are in the Kris Russell Volleyball Arena, where many a Warhawk player has worked hard to bring home that Division III National Championship trophy. On April 15, the Warhawks hosted twenty-nine teams in the 14's, 16's & 18's divisions of the UW-W Open.

The play heated up throughout the day of which lead to matches that saw some extremely long rallies as was witnessed by a standing room only crowd in both gyms. Throughout the day, the setting of the majority of the teams seemed to be commanding most of the attention, as it should be at this time of the year. There is nothing prettier than a setter that has full command of the court. The team with the most interesting story on the day was Milwaukee Sting 18 White and their Head Coach Katie Berry, who went on to capture the 18’s Division Championship. Amazingly, this team has only been at full strength for 4 weeks. Right after the team was selected, one player needed jaw surgery (Emily Gary) and another dislocated her shoulder (Taylor Luce) playing basketball. During this time, many players stepped up and played out of position until the two players on the DL could finally get back into the swing of things. Now all 10 players are finding a way to contribute to the team experience. The middle/setter connection between Jen Heller & Morgan Cizauskas/Luce was exceptional all day as it proved to be very difficult to defend for their opponents. Gary also seemed to be on top of her game as the Outside Hitter found numerous ways to score whether it be powering the ball through the block or snapping it for a quick kill down the line.

Thank you to all teams, as you all put on a great show. It’s obvious that many players and coaches are putting in the necessary time to be competitive as they are approaching their final leg of their season.