IRVINE, Calif. – A day after sweeping a pair of opponents to begin the season, No. 5 Winona State University suffered two losses to West Coast foes on Saturday at the Concordia-Irvine Labor Day Invitational.
Host, and No.22-ranked Concordia, upset the Warriors to begin the day, 3-1, before (RV) California Baptist dispatched of Winona in the nightcap, 3-1.
Concordia won by scores of 25-20, 32-30, 24-26, 25-17. Cal Baptist was a 25-16, 25-21, 25-27, 25-23 winner.
After dropping the first set to Concordia, Winona committed an uncharacteristic 17 attacking errors in the thrilling second set to fall into a 2-0 match hole.
The Warriors prevailed in the third set, which again reached extra points, while hitting a match-best .275. However, Winona was limited to just a .024 clip in the fourth and final set as Concordia stole the match on its home court.
Winona owned a .077 attacking percentage in the loss, committing at least seven errors in each set.
Concordia posted a season-best 17 blocks in the upset victory.
Winona held a 69-68 edge in digs as three Warriors reached double digits in the category. McKenna Larsen led the way with 21 while Becca Pagel chipped in 15, followed by Danielle Rampart with 13. Rampart also led WSU by flooring 14 kills in the loss.
The Warriors cleaned up some of the hitting errors in their second match against Cal Baptist, improving their team attacking percentage to .170, but it wasn't enough as the Lancers put together an impressive .280 clip in the win.
Winona was again stifled at the net with the Lancers recorded 10 team blocks, compared to just five for the Warriors.
Maria Fruechte led the Warriors' offensive attack with 14 kills. Maria Wrage floored 10 kills in the defeat.
Jordan Runge produced a solid all-around match with eight kills, four digs and three service aces.
Pagel, a freshman, recorded a career-best 27 digs for the Warriors.
Larsen and Rampart were both named to the All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the invite.
The losses stand as just the second time in the past three seasons that Winona has dropped consecutive matches.
Winona State (2-2) will travel to Indianapolis, Indiana for four matches next weekend before opening conference play on the road at Minnesota-Mankato on September 14th.
