Plymouth, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team, receiving votes on the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 Preseason Poll, opened its 2018 season going 3-1 at the Lakeland University (Wis.) Invitational August 31-September 1.

The Eagles opened the invitational with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-16) win over Wisconsin Lutheran College Friday before falling to host Lakeland (Wis.) by the score of 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-13).  UWL came back with a pair of wins Saturday, defeating Cardinal Stritch University (Wis.) 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-21) and Oglethorpe University (Ga.) 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-11).

Emma Lawrence led UWL with 37 kills in the four matches, averaging 3.08 per set, while finishing with a .283 (37-11-92) hitting percentage. She had least 10 kills in three matches, including 12 versus Wisconsin Lutheran and Cardinal Stritch (Wis.).  Marisa Johnson totaled 35 kills (2.92) while Kathryn Maas finished with 30 (2.50) and Rhiana Pochman with 20 (1.82).  Johnson also had 11 aces with at least two in each match.

Abbey Fox recorded 124 assists (10.33 per set) in the invitational while the Eagles hit .234 in the four matches.

Julie Van Fleet led the UWL defense with 54 digs (4.50 per set) while Johnson recorded 34 (2.83) and Fox 28 (2.33).

Lawrence and Maas were two of seven players named to the all-tournament team.

"We have a great group of young women," said second-year UWL head coach Amber Dunn.  "Today (Saturday) we started to put some more pieces together and winning and losing took care of itself.  I'm looking forward to a day off followed by another couple of days in the gym to tune some things up."

UWL returns to action Wednesday, September 5 at Luther College (Iowa) at 7 p.m.