VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WLCSports.com) – Wisconsin Lutheran College collected a pair of season-opening wins over Wilkes and Shenandoah on Friday at the Virginia Wesleyan Invitational at TowneBank Arena.
The Warriors (2-0) swept Wilkes (2-3) 3-0 in their opening match by scores of 25-15, 25-17, 25-23. WLC, which collected double-digit kills in all three sets, hit .278 for the match, including a match-best .385 in set three.
Freshman
Adonis Hilton (Rockford, Ill.) recorded a match-high 12 kills in his collegiate debut. Senior
Drew Wempner (West Allis, Wis.) and sophomore
Brady Pichler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) added eight kills apiece, while sophomore
Noah Kern (Brookfield, Wis.) hit a match-high .636 with seven kills. Freshmen
Adam Bedalov (Waukesha, Wis.) and
David Warren (Brookfield, Wis.) tallied 17 and 14 assists, respectively. Pichler posted a match-high three block assists and Kern tied a match-high with eight digs.
Johnnathan Rocha had seven kills, James Brust had 15 assists, and Alex Derk had eight digs for the Colonels, which hit .063 for the match.
Wisconsin Lutheran bounced back from an opening set loss in its second match to defeat Shenandoah (1-4) 3-1 by scores of 16-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-9. After a slow start, the Warriors hit at least .400 in each of the last three sets and finished at .333 for the match, the second-highest in program history.
Pichler led all players with 16 kills, while Hilton had 14, and Kern collected 11. Warren distributed a match-high 29 assists and Bedalov added 12. Hilton served up a trio of aces. Defensively, Wempner tallied six total blocks and Warren led the team with eight digs.
For the Hornets, Alex Schoenen finished with 11 kills, Kaden Odberg finished with 18 assists, and San'Tonio Garrett-Hymon finished with 12 digs.
WLC is back in action early tomorrow at the VWU Invitational, taking on Geneva (3-3) and host Virginia Wesleyan (2-1) at 7 a.m. CT and 10 a.m. CT, respectively. Live coverage links can be found at WLCSports.com.
