WHITEWATER, Wis. – New milestones seem to be a near daily occurrence lately in the Edgewood College volleyball program. On Saturday, the Eagles defeated a ranked opponent for the first time in school history, defeating 17th-ranked UW-Whitewater 3-1 at the UW-Whitewater Invitational. The Eagles also dropped a pair of matches to quality opponents, UW-River Falls and Illinois Wesleyan University in an exhausting three-match day.

Edgewood College (24-7) dropped the first set to UW-Whitewater 25-22, but the Eagles rallied back. In the second set, Edgewood College scored five straight kills, including three from Mallory Palmer to give the Eagles a 24-20 lead. UW-Whitewater (21-10) rallied with four straight points to tie the set at 24 apiece, but then committed a service errors followed by an attacking error to give the Eagles the win.

Edgewood College used a 9-3 run to open a 19-15 lead in the third set and hung on for a 25-21 win. In the fourth set, tied 21-21 Sarah Schuchhardt scored a kill and teamed with Jessica Martin for a block on the following point to give the Eagles a 23-21 lead. Palmer converted a kill to bring the Eagles to the brink of their historic victory, and Schuchhardt and Jordan Winkler finished the match with another assisted block.

Palmer hammered out 20 kills and had just six errors in 63 attacks. Martin, Schuchhardt and Katie Wedvick each had nine kills apiece. Sam Himmelspach covered the floor with 29 digs, while Lindsey Swansby handed out 46 assists. The match marked the first time the Eagles had ever beaten UW-Whitewater, going back eight previous matches.

In the first match of the day, the Eagles fell behind 2-0 to UW-River Falls (20-10), before evening the match by winning the next two sets. Unfortunately, the Falcons pulled together in the fifth and deciding set to claim a 25-20, 25-21, 21-25, 17-25, 15-12. Palmer led the way again with 19 kills, while Schuchhardt had 11 kills and hit .360 for the match. Swansby had 50 assists.

Playing their third match in a row, the Eagles may have run of gas against Illinois Wesleyan University (15-12). The Eagles won the third set, but ultimately dropped a 25-22, 25-12, 25-27, 25-22 decision to the Titans. Palmer again topped 20 kills, scoring 21 kills in four sets. Schuchhardt, Winkler and Martin each six kills for the Eagles. Himmelspach and Rachel Thomsen each had 15 digs to lead the Eagles' defense.

Edgewood College will conclude the regular season with a non-conference match on Wednesday night against UW-Platteville. The Eagles will open their defense of the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament title on Tuesday, October 30 at home against either Aurora University or Concordia University Wisconsin. Should the Eagles continuing winning, as the No. 1 seed, they would host the NAC Tournament semifinal (Nov. 1) and championship (Nov. 3) matches as well.