Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 La Crosse, Wis.  - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team opened the home portion of the 2023 season with two wins on day one of the UW-La Crosse Invitational. The Eagles defeated Macalester College and Simpson College to extend their win streak to five matches. 

THE BASICS 
Final Score:  UW-La Crosse defeated Macalester College (Minn.) 25-17, 25-17, 18-25, 25-16,  UW-La Crosse defeated Simpson College (Iowa)  17-25, 25-23, 25-22, 20-25, 15-11
Location: Mitchell Hall, La Crosse, Wis.
Records: UWL 9-3, Macalester College (Minn.) 4-5, Simpson College (Iowa) 3-7
 

UW-LA CROSSE 3, MACALESTER COLLEGE (MINN.) 1

• UWL started out hot in the first set as they hit .440 (13 kills, 2 errors) in set one. With the score tied 8-8, UWL scored 12 of the next 18 points to lead 20-14. Macalester (Minn.) would not get closer than five the rest of the set.
•  UWL jumped out to an 8-2 lead in set two before Macalester (Minn.) pulled to within 8-7. That would be as close as Macalester (Minn.) would get as UWL went on a 10-4 run to lead 18-11. The Eagles largest lead of the second set came at 21-12.
•  Macalester (Minn.) would not go away with out a fight as they hit .357 (14 kills, 4 errors) in the third set and held UWL to a hitting percentage of .091 (7 kills, 5 errors). 
• Macalester (Minn.) scored the first five points of the fourth set before UWL came back to take a 10-9 lead. With the score tied at 13, UWL scored six straight and 12 of the final 15 points to take the fourth set 25-16. 

UW-LA CROSSE 3, SIMPSON COLLEGE (IOWA) 2

• Simpson (Iowa) jumped on UWL quickly in the first set as they opened with a 15-5 run. UWL would not get any closer than seven (21-14) as they hit -0.114 (8 kills, 12 errros). 
• Trailing 18-14 in the second set, the Eagles went on a 8-2 run to take its first lead of the match. After an Eagle hitting error, UWL got kills from Anna Rossner, Gabrialla Johnson and Grace Nommensen to win set two.
• UWL once again fell behind early as they trailed 9-5 before going on a 5-0 run to lead 10-9. After Simpson (Iowa) tied it at 14, UWL got three kills from Rossner and one from Korducki to lead 18-14. Simpson (Iowa) took a 22-20 lead but the Eagles would score the final five points to win set three 25-20.
• UWL would struggle offensively in the fourth set as they committed 11 hitting errors with only 10 kills. UWL tied it at 10 but Simpson went on a 7-2 run to lead 17-12 and the Eagles were never able to recover.
• It was all UWL as they never trailed in the fifth set. The Eagles scored the first six points of the set including four blocks which Rossner was involved in each one. UWL finished the fifth set with six kills and no errors offensively and five total blocks defensively. 

FROM THE BOXSCORE

• Brianne Korducki led the Eagles offensively as she finished the two matches with 30 kills combined (11 vs. Macalester (Minn.) and 19 vs. Simpson (Iowa)). She also had eight digs in the first match and 10 digs in the second. 
•  Johnson had 10 kills and eight digs in the win over Macalester (Minn.).
• Anna Rossner hit .529 (10 kills, 1 error) to go along with eight total blocks (3 solo, 5 assisted) in the win over Simpson (Iowa). In the game against Macalester (Minn.), Rossner finished with eight kills, one error and six total blocks.
• Ella Luoma had a combined 32 digs in the two wins for the Eagles.
• Nommensen had a stellar all-around match against Simpson as she finished with seven kills, 21 assists, five total blocks and seven digs.

 UP NEXT

• Day two of the UW-La Crosse Invitational continues at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. The Eagles will play Bethany Lutheran College (MInn.) at 1 p.m. followed by the University of Minnesota Morris at 3 p.m. For full results from the tournament visit here.