AURORA, Ill. (WLCSports.com) – Wisconsin Lutheran College lost to a pair of Top 15 opponents on Saturday, falling to No. 10 host Aurora 3-1 and No. 15 UC Santa Cruz 3-0 at Thornton Gymnasium.
MATCH 1
The Warriors (8-15, 4-6 NACC) dropped their opener to the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference co-leading Spartans by scores of 25-20, 25-13, 14-25, 25-17. WLC collected more kills than AU, 41-37, but was outhit .231 to .077. Wisconsin Lutheran had a season-high hitting 31 errors compared to Aurora's 12.
Freshman
Brady Pichler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) recorded a match-high 14 kills for the Warriors, while junior
Drew Wempner (West Allis, Wis.) finished with 12. Senior
James Biedenbender (La Crosse, Wis.) posted a match-high 36-assist, 12-dig double-double, his sixth of the season. Junior
Connor Haeuser (West Bend, Wis.) tallied four of the team's 10 service aces. Junior
Trevor Salutric (Lockport, Ill.) added nine digs.
Lucas Meier and Josh McLellan had 10 kills each for AU (20-4, 9-1 NACC). Logan Brouwer amassed 28 assists.
MATCH 2
WLC suffered its second loss of the season to the Banana Slugs by scores of 25-15, 25-15, 25-20. Wisconsin Lutheran was held to an -.050 attacking percentage with 17 kills and 21 errors, while UCSC hit .247 with 36 kills and 15 errors.
Pichler paced the Warriors with seven kills, Biedenbender finished with eight assists, Wempner totaled four blocks, and Salutric, freshman
Noah Kern (Brookfield, Wis.) and junior
Samuel Dudor (Franklin, Wis.) had five digs apiece.
Evan Erickson led UC Santa Cruz (19-6) with 10 kills, while Andrew Pak posted 24 assists and eight digs.
WLC plays its final two NACC regular season matches at home next week, starting Wednesday with a pivotal 7 p.m. meeting with Illinois Tech (10-15, 5-5 NACC). Live coverage links can be found at WLCSports.com.
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