Despite a hard-fought 26-24 victory in the opening set of match number two, the University of Wisconsin Superior fell to 0-2 on Friday evening when Wheaton (Ill.) College stormed back to take the match in four with set wins of 25-13, 25-22, and 25-22. The Yellowjackets had slipped in straight sets against Wartburg (Iowa) College in their season opener at the Bethel University Invitational in St. Paul earlier in the night.

UW-Superior (0-2) took the lead in match number two against Wheaton after winning a streaky opening set, 26-24. After the Yellowjackets opened leads of 3-1 and 7-3, the Thunder stormed back with five consecutive points to lead 12-8. UWS reversed fortune with a streak of its own, taking a 16-14 lead. The back-and-forth continued until the Yellowjackets finally drove home the game-winner on back-to-back kills by junior outside hitter Leah Nightingale (Dayton, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's H.S.). She led the way for Superior, hitting .235 with 12 kills in the match while senior right-side Alexis Landherr (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti H.S.) and first-year outside Brylee Colligan (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji H.S.) totalled 13 and 12 kills, respectively.

Wheaton forced 27 errors out of the Yellowjackets' offense, which hit just .113 in the match as the Thunder collected 80 digs in four sets led by libero Jessica Bosse's game-high 34. Colligan rounded out a double-double with 12 digs of her own, while junior defensive specialists Mackenzie Dahlin (Kaukauna, Wis./Kaukauna H.S.) and Jasmine Richardson (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park) added 17 and 16. Whaton forced UW-Superior to hit just -.075 in the second set, taking the game 25-13. The third and fourth sets returned to the back-and-forth nature of the opener, but the Thunder were able to secure each while hitting .220 on the evening. Sophomore setter Emily VerWay (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley H.S.) led the game with 39 assists, but Wheaton's duo of setters combined for 48 on the night.

Wartburg [R.V.] 3, UW-Superior 0
Wartburg College proved why it ranked among the teams receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top-25 Preseason Poll as the Knights swept the Yellowjackets in the season opener for UW-Superior, taking the match with set victories of 25-14, 25-15, 25-18.

Wartburg forced 22 attacking errors from the Yellowjackets while making just 13 of their own, hitting .258 against UWS. Landherr had seven kills to lead the way for UW-Superior. Eight different attackers had at least a kill during Wartburg's balanced attack, with Aryn Jones collecting a game-high 13. Wartburg's setting duo totalled 28 assists while VerWay had 16 for the Yellowjackets. Colligan had a team-high nine digs. Maria Brown led the Knights with a double-double of 13 digs and 17 assists.

UP NEXT
UW-Superior will look to change its fortune tomorrow as the team continues at the Bethel Invitational with match-ups against the Nebraska Wesleyan University and Williamette (Ore.) University. Opening serve for UWS is set for 12:00 p.m.