NEW YORK, NY - The UW-Eau Claire women's volleyball team defeated the Rochester Institute of Technology (NY) 3-1 but fell to Adrian College (MI) 1-3 in the first day of the NYU Invitational held here today at the Coles Sports Center in Manhattan.

With the split the Blugolds move to 16-5 on the season while RIT moves to 9-8 and Adrian goes to 8-12. In other action at the tournament, No. 1 ranked NYU defeated both Adrian and St. John Fisher College 3-0.

The Blugolds started out slow against RIT, dropping the first game 24-30 and posting a kill percentage of just .070. Eau Claire responded with a 30-20 win in game two and totaled an impressive kill percentage of .382. After a 30-16 rout in game three, the Blugolds battled to a 31-29 win in the fourth game, hitting .390 for the game.

Molly Menard (Jr.-Eau Claire/Memorial) led the way with 19 kills while also recording 12 defensive digs. Becca Carstensen (Sr.-Eau Claire/Memorial) tallied 16 kills and eight total blocks, including seven block assists. She continues to add to her school records in both total blocks and block assists. Carstensen also pounded out two service aces in the match.

Jodi Dunbar (So.-Platteville) continued her fine sophomore season as she posted 10 kills on the match. She also recorded four block assists while Carly Freiborg (So.-Sacred Heart, MN/Renville County West) notched 52 set assists. Shanna Berger (So.-Baldwin/Baldwin-Woodville) played a great back row as she had 19 digs in the match.

All four games were close in the Blugolds' battle with Adrian College, with each game being decided by four or less points. Eau Claire dropped the first game 26-30 but responded with a 31-29 victory in game two. Adrian won back-to-back games to finish the match, topping Eau Claire 30-28 in game three and 32-30 in game four.

Again Menard led the way with 19 kills while Jenny Wolter (Jr.-Osceola) contributed 16. Both Wolter and Carstensen recorded four block assists while Ashley Danielson (So.-Cadott) led the way with six. Freiborg totaled 53 assists while Berger led the team with 23 digs.

The Blugolds go back to work at the NYU Invitational tomorrow when they battle Fisher at 9:00 a.m. and No. 1 NYU at 1:00 p.m.

Eau Claire-RIT Match Statistics

Eau Claire-Adrian Match Statistics

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