RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) - The Falcons dropped both of their matches in their first day of action hosting the UWRF Invitational at Don Page Arena. UW-River Falls fell in four sets in their first match to St. Catherine before taking a set off of St. Thomas in game two.

The Wildcats took the first set 25-18 and led by as much as 23-15. Emily Carman closed out the set with two of her four first-set kills to put the Falcons at an early disadvantage. St. Kate's found themselves up 23-17 in the second set before UWRF rallied to make it 23-22. Kills by Karli Nielsen and Corynne Dahl forced a timeout by St. Kate's, and Hannah Robb converted consecutive service aces to put pressure on the Wildcats. Errors from both teams gave St. Kate's set point, which Emma Nelson converted on one of her team-high 11 kills to take the second set 25-23. 

St. Kate's sought to close out the match when they took a 15-10 lead in the third set, but the Falcons battled back to a 16-16 score after a kill by Hannah Striggow and aces from Mallory Griffin. UWRF surged ahead to 24-22 after reeling off four straight points late in the set before Dahl and Striggow recorded kills to break the 24-24 tie and put the Falcons down two sets to one. Kills from Carman and Nelson were key for the Wildcats down the stretch, which helped turn at 21-19 Falcons lead in the fourth set into a 24-22 St. Kate's advantage. Dakotah Poitra recorded a final kill and attack error to close out the final set, dropping the final set 25-23.

The Falcons ended up with more kills than the Wildcats but were responsible for nine more attacking errors. St. Kate's also had twice as many blocks as UWRF. Striggow had a game-high 13 kills for the Falcons, while Hailey Huseth, Griffin and Robb combined for 10 service aces. Grace Amacher had a game-high 34 digs for St. Thomas.

UWRF came out flat in game two against St. Thomas, dropping the opening set 25-8 to the Tommies. St. Thomas recorded 10 kills and only two errors in the first set, while the Falcons only managed three kills and four errors. The Tommies trailed 7-5 in the opening set, but rallied for an incredible 20 of the next 21 points to win the opener. UWRF took the first three points of the following set to stay in the match but still found themselves down 24-20 in the second set. A block from Nielsen and Griffin was followed by a Poitra kill and two Nielsen kills to even the game back up at 24-24. A kill by Striggow and a block from Dahl and Abby Peterson gave the Falcons a 28-26 second-set victory and evened the game up.

This wouldn't remain the case, as the Tommies made easier work of UWRF in the third and fourth set. The Tommies went on a run of eight straight points in the middle of the third set and eventually had set point at 24-11. The Falcons fought back to win three straight points, but a kill from Julia Spacek gave the Tommies a 2-1 set advantage. St. Thomas posted a .353 hitting percentage in the third set while the Falcons had an equal number of kills and attack errors. UWRF played the fourth set close before Maddie Kroehler recorded three kills within the last four points of the match to give the Tommies a final-set victory of 25-22.

Striggow also led the team in game two with 12 kills while Poitra had all three of the team's service aces. Robb had 20 digs and Griffin added 25 assists. The Falcons return to action tomorrow when they close out the UWRF Invitational with a games against St. Benedict at 12:30 p.m. and Hamline at 2:30 p.m.