Women’s Volleyball Knocks Out Aurora in a NACC Heavyweight Bout

MEQUON, Wis. – In a battle of two of the top teams in the NACC, the Falcons came out on top of the hard-fought battle with Aurora. The Falcons earned the 23-25, 25-12, 25-18, 22-25, 15-11 victory to move into first place in the NACC with Aurora and Benedictine at 6-1.

The Falcons jumped out to a big lead in the first set behind the serve of Jenna Chaussee (Chilton, Wis.) to take an 8-1 lead. The Spartans did not fold and stormed back to tie the set at 16. The two teams fought back and forth until Aurora closed the set on a 4-1 run to take the set.

CUW learned from the first set and never looked back after jumping out to another early lead in set two. The birds leaped out to a 9-2 lead in the set. The Falcons ballooned the lead up to 21-8 behind the serve of senior Makenzie Vertz (Mukwonago, Wis.) and a kill by senior Gabrielle Pavlik (Pewaukee, Wis.) secured the 25-12 victory. Jenna Chaussee smacked the Spartans in the second set with four kills, two service aces and a block.

Neither team was able to get much separation to start the third set. The Falcons were able to build a 16-12 lead, but Aurora answered with three straight points. The Falcons flexed their muscles and closed the set on a 9-3 run to take the lead in the match. CUW had six from six different players in the stretch to close out the Spartans.

The fourth set saw both teams fight tooth and nail until the bitter end. Neither team was able to build a lead bigger than three points. The Spartans won the final three points of the set to force a fifth set with the 25-22 victory.

The Falcons came out blazing again in the third set and the serve of Makenzie Vertz pushed CUW to an early 3-0 lead. The Spartans cut the deficit to a point on four separate occasions, but could never overtake CUW. Leading 13-11, a sophomore Maycee Karpfinger (Wauwatosa, Wis.) service aces took the wind out of the Spartans' sails and senior Sophia Collins (Lake Mills, Wis.) secured the 15-11 victory with a kill. Collins and Karpfinger both finished the set with four kills.

Maycee Karpfinger finished with a career-high 21 kills to lead the match. She also added two service aces and eight blocks.

In total four Falcons recorded double-digit kills with Sophia Collins at 13, Jenna Chaussee at 12 and Gabrielle Pavlik with 10.

Makenzie Vertz stayed busy with 30 assists and 20 digs in the victory. Junior Sierra Lee (Kenosha, Wis.) also finished with a double-double performance with 21 assists and 14 digs.

The Falcons finished the match with 11 blocks. Karpfinger was a part of eight blocks, followed by Chaussee with four.

Jenna Chaussee filled the stat sheet with another double-double performance with 12 kills and 20 digs, while also landing four service aces.

The victory snaps a four-match losing streak to Aurora.

The Falcons return to play on Wednesday at home against Wisconsin-Oshkosh.