The UW-Platteville volleyball team lost their home opener to Coe College 3-2 on Sept. 7, but they got a second chance at the Kohawks on Oct. 12.

The Pioneers got revenge during their final home stand, beating Coe 30-22, 30-32, 30-22 and 32-30.

“Platteville didn’t play up to their potential in the tournament against Coe in September, but we had high expectations when we played them again,” sophomore middle hitter Lisa Bell said.

“It was our personal mistakes that hurt the team when we played against Coe the first time,” Rochelle Ripp said.

According to the Office of Sports Information, the victory against the Kohawks marked the 20th win of the season for the Pioneers and the 15th time head coach Deb Schulman’s teams have achieved this feat in her 20 years at UW-P.

“We have a younger team this year,” assistant coach Loren Finn said. “Freshmen and sophomores make up two-thirds of the team. The team has become much more offensively consistent now, compared to the beginning of the season.”

In her first career start, Lynn Schreiner had four blocks, while Bell had five blocks and 16 kills.

Platteville racked up 83 team digs compared to Coe’s 65. Rachel Chapman, a junior on the team, accounted for 25 of the Pioneers’ digs.

“The team’s strategy going into each game is to win, play hard, focus on our weaker areas and to have a side out match,” sophomore defensive specialist Katie Deegan said.

UW-P learned from their mistakes the second time around against Coe and made sure they had a line of attack going into the game. Deegan said the team studied scouting reports to prepare for the game.

“We look at where the hitters like to hit, tip, and roll shot,” Deegan said. “These scouting reports really help us out a lot, because it prepares us and lets us know their style of play and what they’re good at and not so good at.”

Last week was a winning week for the UW-P volleyball team. The team also won on Oct. 10 against UW-Stevens Point for their third straight 3-0 conference win of the season. The Pioneers dominated all three matches against the Pointers, winning 30-24, 30-23 and 30-14.

UW-P’s record stands at 20-7 overall and 3-3 in the WIAC. The Pioneers’ next game is at UW-Eau Claire at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 19, and their conference finale is on Saturday, Oct. 20, against UW-Superior.

Finn said that if the Pioneers win both away games, they could finish fourth in conference and would return to the Williams Fieldhouse on Tuesday, Oct. 30, for the WIAC playoffs.