It was a pink shirt affair, on and off the court at UW-Platteville, as the Pioneers took on UW-La Crosse for their annual “Dig for the Cure” match on Oct. 14.

Photograph by Anthony Bauer

Top: Junior Leslie White sets herself up during the three-set win over UW-Stout. Bottom: The volleyball team lines up wearing special pink jerseys in honor of the Dig for the Cure match.



Photograph by Jodi Krautkramer

The Pioneers beat the Eagles in four sets 25-14, 28-30, 25-8, 25-20. With the win, the Pioneers move into third place in the WIAC.

The Pioneers raised $2,452 for breast cancer awareness and treatment, surpassing their total of $1,700 last year.

“My aunt passed away from cancer, and I’ve had friends and fellow coaches battle cancer as well. I think this is a cause close to many people’s hearts,” head coach Deb Schulman said.

The Pioneers sported special pink jerseys for the event.

UW-L earned the first point of the match, but the Pioneers went onto an 8-2 lead and never looked back.

The Eagles battled back in the second set and after back-and-forth points pulled a set out from under the Pioneers.

The Pioneers stepped up to win the third set and fourth set, which ended the match in good form, giving UW-P the victory.

Sophomore Briana Kaiser had 16 kills and junior Melissa Hillebrand added 14 more.

According to the Sports Information Web site, those 14 kills put Hillebrand at 999 career kills, one shy of becoming the 10th Pioneer to reach 1,000.

Hillebrand reached that milestone during the match against UW-River Falls on Oct. 16.

The win set the Pioneers up for the WIAC tournament by placing them into third place.

According to the Sports Information Web site, the two top teams in the WIAC, currently UW-Oshkosh and UW-Whitewater, receive byes in the six-team league tournament, while the third- and fourth-seeds will host first-round playoff matches.

“We are going to take every game one at a time; we’re not looking past any team this late in the season,” Schulman said.