By Jacob Heid

Sports Editor

STEVENS POINT – The first official match of the season for the SPASH volleyball team came at a familiar site. 

The team hosted a quad at the SPASH Fieldhouse on Aug. 22 to open the season. 

Teams that participated included Berlin, De Pere, Eau Claire Memorial, Green Bay N.E.W Lutheran, Northland Pines, Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln and Wittenberg-Birnamwood.

After sweeping pool play, the Panthers lost in two sets to Eau Claire Memorial in the championship to finish the invite 3-1.

A mix of good offense and defense highlighted the Panthers’ day.

Katie Kornowski and Lexi Koback were the assist leaders with 29 and 26, respectively, at the end of four matches.

In SPASH’s match vs. N.E.W Lutheran, everything went smoothly to open the tournament. The Panthers opened the first set by leading 20-13 at one point and eventually came away with a 25-14 victory.

The second set was much of the same. SPASH’s offense went on the attack and played stellar defense.

A balanced attack of Abby Klismith, Karli Torhorst and Ali Torhorst led SPASH offensively. 

Klismith had 14 kills, while Torhorst (Karli) and 13 and Torhorst (Ali) had 11.     

An errant kill attempt by N.E.W Lutheran gave the Panthers the second set, 25-11.

A second match against De Pere went a complete three sets and had plenty of fireworks. 

SPASH trailed in the first set and tried to find a spark.

A few blocks and tips at the net had the two sides trading points, but De Pere still held a seven-point advantage. 

The Redbirds closed the first set with a kill to win 25-17. 

After a tough first-set loss, SPASH turned right around and forced a third after a dominant 25-14 second-set win. 

It was all Redbirds early in the third, taking a 6-2 advantage into a timeout. 

The Panthers went on a 5-2 run out of the timeout to close the deficit to 8-7. 

SPASH rallied back and came away with a tight 15-13 victory to take its second match victory of the day.

A third and final pool play match came against Northland Pines, where the host team cruised to a two-set victory. 

The two sides kept it interesting in the opening set with long volleys. SPASH finished the first with a 25-20 victory. 

Nothing stood in the way of the Panthers in the second. Point after point went to SPASH in a dominant 25-9 win to sweep Northland Pines. 

Those three match victories set up a match with Eau Claire Memorial.

The Old Abes let nothing faze them as they took the first set by double digits, 25-15. 

A tighter second set had SPASH within five toward the end but eventually took its first loss of the day to finish. 

SPASH’s next test is a two-day invitational at UW-Stout on Friday, Aug. 25, and Saturday, Aug. 26.