Volleyball Opens 2026 Season With A Split; Defeats New Paltz; Falls To Rowan

Keara Chaperon

Women's Volleyball | 9/4/2026 9:04:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Virginia Beach, Va.. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team opened the 2026 season with a split as they defeated SUNY New Paltz but fell to Rowan University (N.J.) Friday night at the Marlins Invitational hosted by Batten University (Va.).

THE BASICS
Final Score: UW-La Crosse 3, SUNY New Paltz 1, Rowan University (N.J.) 3,. UW-La Crosse 1
Location: TowneBank Arena, Virginia Beach, Va
Records: UWL 1-1, SUNY New Paltz 1-1, Rowan University (N.J.) 2-1

UW-La Crosse 3, SUNY New Paltz 1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-13)

New Paltz took an early 7-4 lead in the first set on back to back service aces by Elena Savage. A Grace Nommensen kill for the Eagles would tie the score at 10-10. The Hawks would then score seven of the next nine points to lead 17-12. The Eagles would slowly chip away at their deficit pulling to with in 23-22 on a service ace by Maddy Wilson. However, the Hawks would get a kill by Lola Konopa and force an Eagle error to take the first set 25-22.
With the score tied at seven, UWL scored seven unanswered points to lead 14-7. Back-to-back kills from Nommensen and Wilson followed by five straight hitting errors by the Hawks gave the Eagles the seven point lead. A UWL attacking error cut the Hawks deficit to 18-12; however, the Eagles scored four of the next five points to extend their lead to 22-13. The Hawks would not get any closer than six (23-16) as the Eagles won set two 25-17.
UWL opened the third set with a 5-0 run and would never trail as they won 25-19. UWL used a 9-0 run to turn a three-point lead into a 19-7 lead. The Eagles got two service aces from Megan Lund as well as kills from four different players including Sydney Marx, Grace Turlais, Wilson and Nommensen. The Hawks did not get any closer than five (24-19) the rest of the way.
The score was tied 4-4 early in the fourth set before the Eagles score four straight including three consecutive kills by Ali Dehnicke to take an 8-4 lead. The Hawks then scored three unanswered to cut their deficit to 8-7 before the Eagles scored 11 of the next nine points to take a 19-9 lead. The Eagles would score six of the final eight points to win the fourth set 25-13.

FROM THE BOXSCORE

UWL was led by a balanced offensive attack as five players finished with at least seven kills including Ali Dehnicke with a team high 13 while Nommensen had 12, Wilson 11, Turlais eight and Marx seven.
Megan Lund led the Eagles with 22 assists and 14 digs to go along with four service aces.
Lexi Champeau added 19 assists for the Eagles.
Defensively, Megan Jasperson finished with a team high 16 digs.
Lund added a team high 16 assists to go along with two kills, two service aces and seven digs.

UW-La Crosse 1, Rowan University (N.J.) 3 (23-25, 27-29, 25-23, 14-25)

Rowan would break a 5-5 tie in the first set by going on a 5-2 run to take a 10-7 lead. The Eagles scored five of the next six points to take its first lead at 12-11. After an Annie Werner kill put the Eagles up 18-17, the Owls responded with a 7-1 run to lead 24-19. UWL would not go away quietly as they cut their deficit to 24-23 by scoring four straight points. However, Rowan's Hutton Cordrey recorded a kill for the final point as they took set one 25-23.
UWL started fast in the second set as they built a 6-1. The Owls took a 10-9 lead with a 6-0 run of their own. The two teams would trade points until UWL scored three straight to take a 19-16 lead. A Jessica Smart kill for the Owls would even the score at 21-21. Rowan would have three set point opportunities but UWL would fight them off and take a 27-26 lead on Marx's kill. The Owls would then get three straight kills to win set two 29-27.
Rowan jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the third set but the Eagles would respond by scoring nine of the next 11 points to lead 12-11 and force a Rowan timeout. With the set tied 19-19, UWL out scored Rowan 4-1 to lead 23-20. The Owls would tie it up at 23-23 but back-to-back kills by Wilson would give the Eagles a 25-23 win.
A slow start in the fourth set for the Eagles saw the Owls build an early 14-4 lead and UWL would not be able to recover. UWL would not get closer than eight (16-8) as the Owls won set four 25-14.

FROM THE BOXSCORE

Wilson led the Eagles with 12 kills while Dehnicke finished with 10.
Nommensen and Werner each added nine kills.
Lund and Champeau each finished with double-doubles for the Eagles. Lund had 25 assists and 10 digs while Champeau finished with 18 assists and 10 digs.
Larson once again led the Eagles defense as she finished with 26 digs.
As a team, UWL finished with 10 service aces including three from Jasperson and two each from Lund, Dehnicke and Braylin Siverling.

UP NEXT

Day two of the Marlin Invitational will see UWL play Batten University (Va.) at 11 a.m. (CST) and Saint Joseph's College of Maine at 1:00 p.m. (CST) on Saturday.

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