UNION, N.J. – The Vassar College women's volleyball team opened its 2018 season with a pair of matches at the Kean Invitational on Saturday afternoon.  After knocking off Rivier (0-1) by a 25-19, 28-26, 25-20, the Brewers (1-1) fell to Wisconsin-Eau Claire (2-0) by a 25-18, 25-11, 25-16 count in their second contest at Kean University's Harwood Arena.
 
After falling behind 6-3 in the first set against Rivier, Vassar went on a 13-4 spurt to open up a 16-10 advantage.  The Raiders tied it at 17-17, but the Brewers responded with seven of the next eight points, including six in a row, to reach set point.  Vassar closed out a 25-19 set win on its second opportunity.
 
There were 14 ties and eight lead changes in a back-and-forth second set.  Rivier built an early 8-5 cushion before Vassar rallied to go up 12-11.  After the Raiders regained the lead, 17-14, a Lauren Ninkovich (Portland, OR) kill started an 8-4 run that gave the Brewers a 23-21 advantage.  Vassar had two set points at 24-23 and 25-24, but each time Rivier responded with a kill.  Devan Gallagher (San Francisco, CA) then pounded a kill to fight off the Raiders' first set point, and Vassar claimed the next two points, as well, with a Ninkovich kill finishing off the 28-26 win.
 
In the third set, Vassar jumped out to a 12-4 lead before Rivier countered with an 8-3 run to pull within three, 15-12.  The Brewers pushed the margin back to six points at 22-16, but the Raiders responded with four straight points to trim their deficit to 22-20.  However, Jennifer Kerbs (Sacramento, CA) smacked a kill to halt Rivier's momentum, then Sara Ehnstrom (Kaneohe, HI) drove one home to set up match point.  And Ninkovich followed with a service ace to give Vassar the set, 25-20, and the match, 3-0.
 
Gallagher hit a blistering .432 in the match, smashing 16 kills without committing a single error in 37 attempts.  She also tallied seven digs.  Ninkovich contributed eight kills and eight digs, while Annie MacMillan (Colorado Springs, CO) handed out 29 assists.  Anna Zucchero (Newton, MA) paced the Brewers with 14 digs in the victory.  Vassar pounded 13 kills in each set and hit .216 (39 kills, 14 errors, 116 attempts) as a team.
 
Courtney Collins and Sydney Racevicius paced the Raiders with 11 kills apiece, while Hayley Macken had a double-double with 26 assists and 14 digs.  Leah Giampietro added 12 digs and Taylor Dunster finished with 10 digs for Rivier.  As a team, the Raiders hit .178 (41-20-118) in the match.
 
Returning to the court roughly 45 minutes later, Vassar surrendered the first five points in its match against Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  The Blugolds led by as many as 10 points in the opening stanza and reached set point at 24-15.  However, the Brewers fought off three set points before Wisconsin-Eau Claire closed out the frame, 25-18.
 
Vassar took an early 3-2 lead in the second set, but Wisconsin-Eau Claire responded with six straight points to go up 9-3.  The Brewers answered with a 6-2 run of their own, pulling within 11-9 on consecutive Ehnstrom kills.  Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Makenzie Bachmann followed with back-to-back kills, though, sparking a 14-2 rally that gave the Blugolds a 25-11 set win.
 
It was 3-3 early in the third set when Wisconsin-Eau Claire went on a 4-0 spurt to take control.  Vassar pulled back within three at 13-10, but the Blugolds rallied for 11 of the next 15 points to extend their cushion to 24-14.  The Brewers got kills from Ninkovich and Kerbs to fight off two match points before Wisconsin-Eau Claire capped its victory by taking the third set, 25-16.
 
For Vassar, Gallagher led the way with eight kills while also posting seven digs.  Ninkovich had five kills and a team-high nine digs, and Zucchero added seven digs.  MacMillan, meanwhile, finished with 20 assists and nine digs.  The Brewers hit .165 (27-10-103) as a team in the contest.
 
Madelyn Pashibin paced Wisconsin-Eau Claire with 15 kills on .414 hitting.  Kendra Baierl tallied 12 kills and hit .474, while Makenzie Bachmann contributed eight kills and a match-high 15 digs.  Arianna Barrett also had eight kills to go along with eight digs.  Taylor Scalia recorded 14 digs and four aces for the Blugolds, and Madison Surprise distributed 45 assists.  Wisconsin-Eau Claire hit an impressive .355 (50-12-107) in the victory.
 
On Sunday, the Brewers conclude the tournament with two more matches.  Vassar faces Western New England (0-2) at 12 p.m. before taking on the host Cougars (1-0) at 2 p.m.