The Aurora University women's volleyball team split the opening matches at the Wheaton College Invite in Friday night, dropping the opener in five sets to the host Thunder before a thunderous 3-0 win over Maryville College.


MATCH ONE SCORE: Wheaton College 3, Aurora University 2 (21-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-14, 12-15)
MATCH TWO SCORE: Aurora University 3, Maryville College 0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-18)
LOCATION: King Arena - Wheaton, Illinois
RECORD: Aurora University 5-5 overall and 1-0 in the NACC


MATCH ONE:
- The Spartans were within points throughout the opening set but never led in a 25-21 first set loss.
- A kill from Kate Poellmann with AU down 7-4 in the second set ignited the Spartans to a 25-19 set win.
- AU hit .432 in the set led by nine kills from Lulu Torres and five from Poellmann.
- The third set went back and forth with the Spartans and Thunder trading leads but Wheaton would win 25-21 to take a 2-1 match lead.
- The Spartans dominated the fourth set, leading throughout to win 25-14 and set up a winner take all fifth set.
- Another strong hitting set had AU with a .348 attack led by four from Celeste Cozzoni and Poellmann.
- AU led for the first half of the fifth set but it was the hosts who won the second half to win 15-12.

MATCH TWO
- The Spartans rebounded in the second match to hit .407 with just four hitting errors in 86 chances while winning 3-0.
- The first set saw AU lead from the first point and win 25-17.
- Four Spartans had three or more kills led by Lulu Torres (five), Celeste Cozzoni (four), Riley Moreno and Kate Poellmann (three).
- The second set was again dominated by the Spartans who won 25-14 with three aces from Hannah Evenson.
- Hitting .476 as a team Cozzoni hit 1.000 with three kills.
- In the third set, Evenson added five more aces and the Spartans won 25-18. 


MATCH ONE
KILLS: Kate Poellmann and Lulu Torres (18)
ASSISTS: Hannah Joseph (53)
DIGS: Hannah Evenson (25) and Kristen Erickson (15)
ACES: Hannah Evenson (3)
BLOCKS: Celeste Cozzoni (3)

MATCH TWO
KILLS:  Lulu Torres (10) and Celeste Cozzoni (9)
ASSISTS: Hannah Joseph (37)
DIGS: Dani Lauer (16) and Hannah Evenson (10)
ACES: Hannah Evenson (9)
BLOCKS: Riley Moreno and Kate Poellmann (1)


Next action for the Spartan women's volleyball team comes on Saturday, September 16 when they travel to Wheaton College for a tournament. AU takes on Manchester University at 9:00 a.m. and #2 Hope College at 3:00 p.m. in Wheaton, Illinois.