ST. PAUL, Minn. – Lewis & Clark College volleyball won their first set of the Macalester College Invitational against the host team on Friday evening but lost their matches to the Scots and the University of Wisconsin-Superior.  
 
THE BASICS
 
GAME ONE
Macalester 3, Lewis & Clark 1 (18-25, 25-11, 25-17, 25-22) 
(Lewis & Clark 0-4)
(Macalester 5-1)
 
GAME TWO
Wisconsin-Superior 3, Lewis & Clark 0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-20) 
(Lewis & Clark 0-5)
(Wisconsin-Superior 7-3)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Pin hitters Annika Traxler and Isabel Meleán-Williams led the Pioneers with 18 and 15 kills, respectively, on the Macalester Invitational's opening day.
 
Middles Emily Strand (11 kills), Christi San Diego (seven kills), and outside hitter Ella Ruark (seven kills) finished third and fourth on the team offensively. Strand led the front line on the defensive end with four blocks, Ruark tied her career best with three, and Traxler and San Diego added a block each.
 
Liberos/defensive specialists Kelsie Nakashima and Bethany Ballesteros led the back row with 24 and 22 digs, respectively. The seniors took turns playing libero, with Ballesteros wearing the black jersey against Macalester and Nakashima throwing it on against Wisconsin-Superior.
 
Game One
 
Meleán-Williams recorded five of her career-high 12 kills in the first set against Macalester while hitting .714 (5-0-7). Early in the set, the sophomore's kills gave Lewis & Clark five-point leads at 9-4 and 10-5. The Pioneers took their largest lead at 19-13 on a kill by Traxler. The Scots fought back and narrowed the Pioneers' lead to 21-18. Lewis & Clark closed out the set on a 4-0 run with a kill by Strand, two service aces by sophomore Ruby Kuerschner and a block by Ruark and Strand.
 
The Scots jumped to a 10-2 lead in the second set. A kill by senior Ruark pulled the Pioneers within 11-6, but they would get no closer as Macalester evened the match with a 14-5 run.
 
Lewis & Clark fought back from five points down to tie the third set at 11-all after a kill from Meleán-Williams and a Macalester attack error by Ella Cohen-Richie. The Scots utilized another run to close out the third set, outscoring the Pioneers 14-7 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
Early kills in the fourth set by Kuerschner and San Diego gave Lewis & Clark leads of 6-2 and 7-3. The two teams traded mini-runs and the lead until a service error by Cohen-Richie broke a 14-all tie and gave the Pioneer a 15-14 lead. Aces by junior Reilyn Sabado and first-year Ainsley Mochrie, combined with kills by Traxler and first-year Daphne Ibrao gave the Pioneers a 21-15 advantage. The Scots used a 7-1 run to tie the set at 22 and force head coach Erin Labasan to call her final timeout. Macalester rattled off the final three points to avoid a fifth set and win the match.  
 
Game Two
 
Lewis & Clark made some changes on the court when they faced Wisconsin-Superior 30 minutes later as Nakishima moved to the libero position and Kuerschner shared setting duties with sophomore Kenzie Edwards.
 
Edwards set new career-highs in assists (16), digs (eight), aces (three), and kills (two) in her second collegiate match.
 
Strand and Traxler led the Pioneers with eight kills each and Ruark added five against the Yellowjackets.
 
Lewis & Clark got off to a slow start in the match and faced an 11-1 deficit, but a kill by Strand and back-to-back aces by Kuerschner topped off a 10-4 Pio run that pulled them within 15-11. Four different Pioneers kept the score within two points late in the match; Ballesteros made it 17-15 with an ace and kills by Strand (18-16), Traxler (19-17), and Nakashima (20-18) kept the first set close. The 'Jackets used a 5-2 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
In their first match of the season, sophomore middle hitter HB Schuett recorded their first kill of the year in the second set to pull the Pioneers within 4-2. After going down 9-5, kills by Strand and Meleán-Williams and an ace by Kuerschner tied the set at 10-all. Later an ace by Edwards and a kill from Traxler gave Lewis & Clark their largest lead of the match at 17-14. Wis.-Superior used a 9-2 run to win the set 25-19.
 
Edwards found Traxler in the third set to tie the score at 10-all after the Yellowjackets held a four-point lead.  The Pioneers kept within striking distance during the middle of the set, but the 'Jackets were the first team to reach 20 points (20-15). Mochrie notched her first collegiate kill to pull Lewis & Clark within 21-18. Wis.-Superior rattled off three straight to earn match point, but kills by Ruark and Mochrie gave the Pioneers hope before a Sidney Bader kill ended the match.    
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• Kuerschner recorded her ninth career double-double with 31 assists and 10 digs versus Macalester and dished out 30+ assists for the seventh time in her career.
• Lewis & Clark outhit Macalester .393 to .079 in the first set of game one.
• San Diego's seven kills against the Scots was a new career-high for the sophomore and she recorded her first collegiate service ace in the first match.
• Junior transfer Abby Warrick recorded her first NCAA assist and an NCAA-high two digs against Wis.-Superior.
• Ibrao notched her first collegiate dig in the match against the Yellowjackets.

WHO'S NEXT

Lewis & Clark wraps up the Macalester Invitational tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT / 9 a.m. PT with a match against Coach Labasan's alma mater, Grinnell College, followed by the University of Minnesota Morris, at 1:00 p.m. CT / 11 a.m. PT.