ELMHURST, Ill. – The Edgewood College volleyball team moved past some opening match jitters against No. 12 Elmhurst College and claimed their first win of the season, defeating Westminster College (Mo.) 3-0 at the Elmhurst College Invitational. The Eagles cruised past Westminster 25-17, 25-20, 25-19 after dropping their first match of the season to Elmhurst 25-17, 25-20, 25-22 earlier in the evening.
Against Westminster College (Mo.) (0-2), the Eagles used a huge first run in the first set to gain an advantage. The Eagles and Bluejays were tied 13-13 when Elizabeth Evans scored a kill to put Edgewood College (1-1) ahead. From there, junior Jordan Winkler served nine straight points, including four service aces to put the Eagles ahead 23-13 and all but clinch the set. In the second set Winkler and freshman Emily Chaussee had six kills apiece for a 25-20. The Eagles closed out the match with a 25-19 third set victory behind two kills apiece from Winkler, Evans, Savannah Koester and Carly Reuter.
Winkler led all Eagles with 11 kills against Westminster, while Chaussee had six kills in 11 attempts with no errors for a team-high .545 attack percentage. Rachel Tesch led Edgewood College with 12 digs, while Rachel Thomsen had a double-double with 18 assists and 10 digs. Sarah Schuchhardt had a team-high four blocks.
Edgewood College found rough going in the season opening match with #12 Elmhurst College (1-0). The host Bluejays hit .288 to the Eagles .056 to earn the victory. Winkler again led the Eagles with seven kills and added seven digs. Evans added four kills while Schuchhardt had three. Tesch had a team-high eight digs while Thomsen handed out 11 assists. Haley Schwenn had eight assists and four digs in her Edgewood College debut.
The Eagles will return to Wisconsin for a pair of matches on Saturday at the UW-Whitewater Invitational. Edgewood College will meet Grinnell College at noon, before a date with tournament host, the 18th-ranked Warhawks at 2:00 p.m. Links to live statistics for both of Saturday's matches are available at EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com.
