The Falcon volleyball team lost its WIAC opener, three sets to one, to UW-Platteville on Friday night at the Karges Center.

In the first set  the Falcons were putting pressure on the visiting Pioneers as River Falls took an 18-16 lead. But, a wise time-out by Platteville's Head Coach Deb Schulman changed the momentum and Platteville went on to win set one, 25-21,  with a .429 hitting percentage.

Set number two was back and fourth. The set was taken over by Sami Kaminski (Weyerhaeuser, WI, Weyerhaeuser)  who had back to back kills that were the last two points of the second set. For the match she had 12 kills, 14 digs, and one solo block.

The Falcons struggled but were able to hang around in the third and fourth set before losing 27-25 and 25-23.

Notable Falcons were Mackenzie Suda (Ham Lake, MN, Blaine) who had 23 assists and seven digs. Erin Green (Fridley, MN, Fridley) lead the Falcons with 14 kills, Jean Theis (Shakopee, MN, Shakopee) who had a .316 hitting percentage and Courtney Preiner (Oakdale, MN, Hill-Murray) who had 20 digs and three service aces.

Platteville was lead by Melissa Hillebrand who had 12 kills and Ali Sikic who had 36 assists.

River Falls drops to a 6-4 record and they are 0-1 in conference play. The Falcons next game is Saturday at noon against UW-La Crosse at home in the Karges Center.

Box score