Volleyball raises breast cancer awareness

The UW-River Falls volleyball team is doing well with a 9-11 record this year and continuing to play better each game according to Coach Patti Ford.

The team is 1-2 in the WIAC. The Falcons beat UW-La Crosse with a final score of 3-1, but fell short to UW-Platteville with the final score being 3-2. Ford said that UWPlatteville is a strong team and is ranked in the top 25 nationally.

The Falcons have a lot of returners and Ford said they only lost one starter from last year. This year there is one senior, Linnea Osterberg who is also one of the captains along with junior Courtney Preiner. Ford said they have a good, strong returning core and a lot of the key players in the junior class.

“We’ve got a really unique group of players who are very passionate and that’s one of our team strengths,” Ford said.

There are five new freshmen players and three sophomores, one sophomore being Jean Theis. Theis said the team is only continuing to get better and stronger as a program and playing well together as a team.

The team is getting into their WIAC games and the team hopes to finish in the top three of the conference and potentially win it, Theis said.

“It is a very attainable goal and as long as we stay tough and focused and play the way we know we should, there is no doubt in my mind that this goal will be met,” Theis said.

Osterberg agreed that the team is shooting for their goal of top three and said that the team’s biggest obstacle is keeping their momentum.

“We have a hard time getting momentum back if we are down. Then once we have that momentum, keeping it, and finishing the match,” Osterberg said.

Ford said that their goal is to always be competitive in the WIAC and that they only get one game to play each team.

One of the Falcons upcoming home games is against UW-Stout on Oct. 12; the game will promote support for breast cancer awareness. This is the fourth straight year that the team will participate. Each of the nine WIAC teams will participate in one promotional event throughout Sept. and Oct., according to the WIAC website. The game against UW-Stout on Oct. 12 is called the “Dig For the Cure Match.” This year all fall varsity athletics will be participating by selling shirts and proceeds will be donated towards breast cancer research. The game against UW-Stout is also one of the team’s conference games.

Theis said she is looking forward to how the rest of the season will fall into place and she has high hopes for the team. Ford said not just in the conference, but the overall Midwest region is tough.

“We’ve got a great team on the verge of doing great things,” Ford said.