FREMONT, Calif. (Oct. 12, 2007) – Edgewood College lost its first two volleyball matches at the Cal State East Bay Wild West Shootout, which began today in Hayward, Calif. The Eagles fell to nationally ranked Cal Lutheran (15-4) and the Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz (13-13) both by scores of 3-0.

Cal Lutheran, ranked No. 26 in the latest CSTV/AVCA Division III coaches poll, downed the Eagles (7-14) by a final of 30-18, 30-21, and 30-17. Setter Lindsey Benson’s 38 assists helped the Regals to a .317 team attack percentage led by Summer Plante-Newman’s 13 kills.

Kim Paskey (Poynette, Wis.) led the Eagles in kills with six, but neither the offense nor defense for Edgewood College could quite find a rhythm after outside hitter Nina Brown (McFarland, Wis.) went down with a knee injury with the Eagles leading 8-6 in game one. Brown will miss the rest of the weekend and will undergo more testing early next week when the team arrives back to Madison.

Edgewood College entered its second match hitting much better as a team, despite the three-game sweep. The Eagles hit .286 in game one and .333 in game two, but could not overcome a powerful UC Santa Cruz offense that hit .435 for the match.

Amber Hewitt (DeForest, Wis.) boasted a team-high .539 attack percentage for the Eagles with 10 kills on 17 attacks and just one attack error. Hannah Williams (Richland Center, Wis.) recorded 20 assists.

The Eagles will face tournament host Cal State East Bay, ranked No. 13 in NCAA Division III, in their first match Saturday which is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. CST. Then they will face Northern Athletics Conference rival Concordia University Wisconsin in a non-conference match at 7 p.m. CST.