La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team opened its 2018 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) season with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-15) victory over UW-Oshkosh Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles improve to 8-4 overall while the Titans drop to 7-6 overall.  UW-Oshkosh was also playing its league opener. 

UWL took an 8-4 lead in the opening set on a Julia Van Fleet ace, but UW-Oshkosh came back scoring the next five points to lead 9-8.  The set was tied eight times, including 23-23, when the Eagles scored the final two points on a Liz Lansink kill and block assists from Rhiana Pochman and Kathryn Maas. 

UW-Oshkosh led 17-13 in the second set before UWL responded with an 7-2 run to lead 20-19 on an Emma Lawrence kill.  The Eagles scored seven of the final eight points in the set with back-to-back kills from Abbey Fox and Marisa Johnson for the final two points.   

UWL took an 9-8 lead in the third set after a UW-Oshkosh hitting error.  The Eagles never trailed again, scoring 10 of the next 13 points. 

Johnson led three players in double figures in kills with 13 while Lawrence and Pochman each finished with 10.  Johnson hit .310 (13-4-29) in the match.  Fox recorded 36 assists as the Eagles hit  .198 (45-21-121) overall, including 3.00 (13-4-30) in the third set. 

Van Fleet led UWL with 21 digs while Johnson finished with 13 and Sophie Quelle 10.  The Eagles recorded 4.5 team blocks. 

Taylor Allen and Renee Ash led UW-Oshkosh with seven kills each.  Rebecca Doughty had 15 assists as the Titans hit .061 (25-18-114).  Katie Hodges had a team-leading 10 digs.  The Titans finished with 7.5 team blocks.

UWL returns to action Friday, September 21 at the UW-Stevens Point Invitational facing Elmhurst College (Ill.) at 3 p.m. and Coe College (Iowa) at 5 p.m.