Ripon, WI - The Martin Luther College volleyball team opened up their 2023 season with a pair of contests at the Ripon College Classic on Friday. The Knights would drop both neutral site matches, with a 3-2 loss to Dubuque that went to a fifth set and a 3-0 sweep in the later game to MSOE.

Dubuque 3, MLC 2

In the first set of the season, both teams were back and forth throughout, but the Knights found some separation edging the Spartans (25-19). Dubuque would counter back by taking the second set (25-20), leading to a third set win for MLC (26-24), where Paige Biesterfeld gave the Knights the advantage with consecutive kills. From there, the Spartans seemed to regain some stamina and decisively claimed the fourth set 25-16, which led to a fifth set to decide the match. The final set started off with a 4-4 tie, but then Dubuque rattled off six unanswered points which led to their victory in the match.

Biesterfeld and Lauren Paulsen led the way in kills, securing nine apiece, almost contributing to half of the 39 team kills. The Spartans would have 20 errors in the match, but had 55 kills in the match.

MSOE 3, MLC 0

In match two, the MSOE Raiders jumped out to a 16-8 lead in the first set, but the Knights found a way to chip back into the deficit and even took the lead 21-20, which was fueled by Paulsen. However, MSOE snuck out the opening set 25-22 after a couple of MLC errors towards the end. In set two, MSOE got a lift from Emma Braun, who helped her team to six consecutive points as the Raiders took a 25-11 win. MSOE would continue their strong play from the first two sets to complete the sweep, winning the third set (25-18).

Senior Naomi Bridgemen had a solid match for MLC, recording 16 digs to jumpstart some rallies for the Knights. Paulsen would have another nice match with six kills, while freshman Ella Walz established her setting game with seven assists.

The Knights (0-2) will play their final two matches of the four game tournament tomorrow when they face Mount Mary at 10 a.m. and the host school in Ripon at 12 p.m.