WHITEWATER, Wis. (Sept. 2, 2022) – Loras College's women's volleyball team earned a split on day one of the Wisconsin Blast tournament on Friday afternoon to kick off the highly-anticipated 2022 campaign.

The Duhawks (1-1) dropped their season opener 3-0 against the host team and 16^th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (1-0) but rebounded with a 3-0 sweep over Ripon College (0-2) to end day one with a .500 record.

The 16^th-ranked Warhawks showcased their strength against the Duhawks to start their season with a home victory. Fifth-year player Erin McNeil led UW-Whitewater to the sweep with 10 kills in the game, making her the only player to reach double figures in that category in the match.

Despite a challenging first two sets for the Duhawks, the third set gave them momentum for their second match of the day as they pushed the Warhawks to play past 25 points. The Warhawks would prevail 26-24 in the end, but not after getting a good showing from a Loras team trying to avoid a sweep.

Sophomore middle blocker Cat Gleason led the way for the Duhawks in their first match with team-highs in both kills (7) and attack percentage (.462). Gleason's seven kills came on just 13 attacks while she registered just one error.

Riley Deere, another sophomore, led the Duhawks with seven digs in the season opener after totaling just three during her entire freshman season.

Game two featured a much more favorable matchup as the Duhawks flipped the script and swept the nightcap 3-0 over Ripon.

Set one stayed tight early, but a 7-0 run for the Duhawks pushed them out to a 15-7 lead. Senior outside hitter Abbey Kwiatkoski tallied a pair of kills during that run, then was called upon again late in the set as the Red Hawks stormed back to make it 21-20 in favor of Loras.

The Duhawks staved off the comeback attempt with four straight points, including the final two points coming on Kwiatkoski kills to take the opening set 25-20.

Set two saw Loras rattle off yet another big run as a 6-0 scoring streak featured a pair of back-to-back service aces from Deere and pushed Loras out in front 12-7. The Duhawks again finished the set off with a bang, scoring the final five points to go up two sets to none.

The Duhawks used a steady attack in set three to outpace the Red Hawks and take the final frame 25-18. Loras' defense at the net proved pivotal as the team's 10 blocks majorly outweighed the three blocks registered by the Red Hawks.

Gleason was the frontrunner for the Duhawks yet again in match two as she led the way with six block assists and tied with each Kwiatkoski, James Keefe, and Allie Burke for the team lead with six kills. Deere also doubled her output from game one and came up with 14 digs to lead all players in the match.

Junior setter Sara Hoskins played her usual role and served up 29 assists on day one while throwing in two services aces in each match.

Loras stays in Whitewater and will play another pair of games tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 3 against Finlandia University at 12 P.M. and against Rockford University at 4 P.M.