RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) - UW-River Falls stretched Illinois Wesleyan to extra points in two sets but came up short in their opening match of the Concordia Invitational. The Titans, ranked 15th in DIII, took the win 26-24, 26-11, 27-25 for their 12th-straight win. 

Hailey Huseth started off the game with a service ace for the Falcons, but Illinois Wesleyan quickly went up 7-4 after four team kills and a service ace. UWRF went on a 5-0 run to go ahead 11-8 in the opening set, aided by a kill from Dakotah Poitra and an ace from Hannah Striggow. The Titans responded with a 6-1 run later in the set to take a 17-14 advantage. A kill from Poitra and two kills from Mallory Griffin helped knot the set up at 24-24, but a service error from Hannah Robb and an attack error from Griffin gave Illinois Weselyan the first set at 26-24. 

The Titans completely outplayed the Falcons in the second set, going up 6-0 after three team kills and a block from Heidi Dague and Anna Clausen. A service ace from Amber Juarez pushed the lead to 12-2. and they would go up by as much as 18-6 after a kill from Clausen. Emily Steininger closed out the set with two kills to give Illinois Wesleyan the second set by 15 points. The Titans had a .387 hitting percentage on only 15 kills and three errors, while UWRF struggled by committing seven errors along with their seven kills in the second set. 

Illinois Wesleyan committed as many errors in the third set as in the first two sets combined, but they finished with an incredible 18 kills in the set. The Falcons also stepped up their game by going on a 5-0 run on three kills to take an early 8-5 lead. The Titans slowly worked their way back into the set, always trailing by only a few points until they faced set point at 22-24 in UWRF's favor. Illiniois Wesleyan won five of the last six points on kills from Rachel Burkman, Tyler Brown and Bev Ryan to claim the final set at 27-25.

The Titans had 17 more kills than UWRF and finished with six aces. The Falcons were led by eight kills from Griffin and seven kills and two blocks from Karli Nielsen. Brown had a game-high 13 kills and 19 digs to lead Illinois Wesleyan. The Falcons are now 12-17 overall and on a five-game losing streak. They will look to get back on track when they face Millikin University at 11 a.m. on Saturday.