DE PERE, Wis. – The Northland College Volleyball team dropped a pair of matches to start the St. Norbert College Chick-fil-A Invitational first falling 0-3 (18-25, 14-25, 9-25) to Carroll University then 0-3 (7-25, 9-25, 15-25) to Macalester College on Saturday evening in De Pere, Wis.
 
In the opening match, Northland battled Carroll in set one taking small leads to start the opening set. Kills from Lily Zapp, Ellison Dezwarte, and Leah Allan led NCVB to an early 9-7 lead. Hannah Peel set up Britta Josephson to give Northland a 15-14 advantage. Carroll responded with six straight points that led to a 25-18 win.
 
Allan scored three of the team's first four points the boost NC to a 4-2 lead. Northland managed to keep up with Carroll in the early stages of the set, but two large runs by the Pioneers resulted in a 25-14 victory for CU. The Pioneers pulled away early to start set three. Northland could not catch up and lost the final set 9-25.
 
Allan led the attack with nine kills and hit .214. Josephson and DeZwarte were behind her with four and three respectively. Kodie Rempp assisted on 10 points and Allan scored the team's sole ace. Defensively, Allan and Josephson tallied a team-high six digs. Hannah Fisher and Peel were one behind with five. Northland had one block in the match coming from an assisted one from Allan and Rempp.
 
Macalester got off to a quick start in all three sets and never let Northland find its footing. The third set was Northland's best. Josephson kept Northland in the set with many early kills but it was not enough to match the pace of the Scots, dropping the match in three sets.
 
Allan continued to lead the Northland attack tallying six kills in the second match. Josephson finished one behind with five. Anna Campbell and Rempp totaled seven assists with Peel having the other one. Allan recorded a team-high 10 digs. Rempp, Campbell, and Peel finished behind with four.
 
Northland concludes the St. Norbert College Chick-fil-A Invitational tomorrow (Saturday) with a 10 a.m., game against Central College.
 
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.