EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - The women's volleyball season drew to a close with a three set loss to NCAA Division III No. 8 Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday night. The Blugolds topped the Panthers 25-19, 25-19, 25-20.

In Thursday's first set, the teams matched each other until reaching 19-all with 12 tie scores. UWEC took the set by scoring the final six points for the win.

"We love playing hard teams," said senior middle hitter Emily Stahl.  "Any time we score a point, it makes it all worth it."

Eau Claire maintained a lead of three to five points over the balance of the match to capture the second and third sets and advance to the second round for a date against Gustavus Adolphus on Friday.

"We were super impressed (by Eau Claire) - really big, really fast," said head coach Tom Ackerman.  "When they were in system, we just didn't have the blocking to touch it.  We had to stay agressive.  Our team played gritty, we never rolled over, and we kept fighting."

Greenville was led in kills by Jasmin Smith who posted seven kills and five errors over a span of 28 attacks to end with a hitting percentage of .071. Sacorra Patton was right behind Smith with six kills.

GU's dig leaders were Chasity Hill with seven and Kaitlin Murray posting six.

Anna Finch and Lauren Spivey each added two block assists.

"Back in the fall of 2019, we had a disappointing end to our season, losing in the conference semifinals," said right side Finch.  "We had the goal of getting back to the NCAA tournament, and we stuck with it."

The Panthers (24-7) returned to the NCAA's for the first time since 2018, capping a successful season.