La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-19, 25-21) to Luther College (Iowa) Friday night in Mitchell Hall in the Eagles' home opener.  UWL, ranked 21st on this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), drops to 6-4 on the season. Luther (Iowa), receiving votes in the AVCA Top-25 Poll, improves to 7-3. 

Luther (Iowa) never trailed in the opening set Friday night, racing out to a 4-1 lead.  UWL later tied it at 4-4, but Luther (Iowa) used a 13-4 run to lead 17-8 on a Sam Schroeder kill. The Norse went on to earn the 25-15 victory, hitting .308 (11-3-26). The Eagles hit -.179 in the first set with four kills and nine errors in 28 attempts. 

After Luther (Iowa) scored the opening point of the second set, UWL's Rhiana Pochman and Rachel Barthel recorded kills for a 2-1 lead. UWL would never trail again in the set.  The set was tied 11-1 when three straight points gave the Eagles a 14-11 advantage. Luther (Iowa) later cut the deficit to 21-19, but could get no closer the rest of the set. 

The third set was tied 19-19 when Luther (Iowa) scored the final six points to earn the win. 

With the fourth set tied at 9-9, the Norse scored five straight points to lead 14-9.  The Eagles trailed 20-15 when they used a 6-2 run to cut the lead to 22-21, but the Norse scored the final three points to secure the victory. 

Jessica Jablonski led UWL with 13 kills while hitting .619 overall with no errors in 21 attempts. Stephanie Henk and Laine Hoeffel each recorded eight kills. Henk became the 10th player in school history to record 1,000 career kills.  Madison Entinger finished with 31 assists as the Eagles hit .059 (40-32-136) overall. 

Halle Barnabo and Stevie Winer led UWL with 14 digs each while Pochman recorded four block assists. 

Karissa Kime led Luther (Iowa) with 12 kills while Anna Larson finished with nine and Emma Veum eight. Sam Sixta had 32 assists as the Norse hit .168 (41-20-125).  Larson and Natalie Cote led Luther (Iowa) with 12 digs while Kime added 11 and Sixta 10.  The Norse totaled 12.0 team blocks as Schroeder recorded six block assists and Morgan Towne had five block assists and one block solo.

UWL returns to action Wednesday, September 20 at UW-Oshkosh at 7 p.m. to open Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play.