APPLETON, Wis. – The Northland College Volleyball team fell in its opening match against Marion University 3-0 (10-25, 21-25, 17-25) at the Lawrence Invitational in Appleton, Wis., Friday evening.
 
Set one the Jills fell behind after some errors and were in the hole early 7-2. Northland started to climb back with a pair of Marion errors and an Alexa Zadra ace to make it a two-point set. The Sabers then went on a seven-point run and ended up winning the set 25-10.
 
Megan Van Gheem started set two with an ace. Northland and Marian then traded points for a while without a team gaining an edge up to 14-14. MU eventually pulled away with a four-point run. The LumberJills were able to pull within one at 20-21 but it was not enough with Marian taking set two 25-21.
 
Starting set three Selby Justman scored three of the first six points to give the Jills an early 5-1 lead. The lead did not last too long with the Sabers knotting the game up at 7-7. Bailey Wynn helped to bring the lead back to three with a kill. That was followed up with a 12-3 Marion run to put them out of striking range and won the final set 25-17.
 
Justman led the Jills in the match with five kills, with three coming in the third set. Wynn was one kill behind her with four and Elizabeth Montgomery and Britta Josephson helped Northland with three. Also recording a kill was senior Madi Owens. Van Gheem set up 17 points in the match.
 
Defensively Josephson was the dig leader with eight over the three sets. Alexa Zadra and Van Gheem were one behind Josephson at seven. Zadra brought her career total to 968. At the net Northland recorded four solo blocks from Justman with two and Wynn and Montgomery with one.
 
The Jills will wrap up the Lawrence Invitational with a pair of matches tomorrow (Saturday). Northland starts the day with the host Lawrence University at 10 a.m., followed by Mount Mary University at noon.
 
Northland College is an NCAA Division III institution located in Ashland, WI. The LumberJacks and LumberJills sponsor 14 varsity sports and compete in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, Midwest Lacrosse Conference, and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.