The Lakeland University women's volleyball team got off to a flying start to its 2018 season with a pair of impressive wins to open its Lakeland Volleyball Tournament presented by Discovery Coaches Friday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies came back from a two sets down deficit to top NAIA program Cardinal Stritch University in five sets in their season opener (24-26, 24-26, 25-21, 29-27, 15-12). Lakeland followed that up with a resounding performance against the defending Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions, sweeping the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse 25-15, 25-18, 25-13 to start the season 2-0, the only team of the five on hand for the Muskies' home invitational.

Lakeland got the ball rolling downhill after losing two close sets to start against Stritch, which came into the tourney having already played eight matches this year. The Muskies bounced back in the final three sets, including staving off a match point in the fourth, and defeated the Wolves in the teams' first meeting since 2005.

The hosts then put together a nearly flawless performance against UW-La Crosse, posting a huge .378 hitting percentage for the match with 37 kills and just three errors in 90 attacks. Lakeland hit effectively, was excellent on defense and added eight service aces in defeating a WIAC school for the first time since topping then-WIAC member UW-Superior in 2009.

Shannon Bishop (Jr.-River Grove, Ill.) carried the attack in both matches, piling up 31 kills for the night, including 18 versus Cardinal Stritch and 13 with just three errors against UW-La Crosse. Shelby Welsh (Sr.-Ogallala, Neb.) added 15 kills over two matches, and Eliana Arbetman (Sr.-Oak Park, Ill.) posted nine kills against Stritch.

The Muskies also put up a mighty block against Strtich with 17 team blocks. Emilie Schartner (Sr.-Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) totaled 10 of them (one solo, nine assisted), Bishop added eight and Megan Goeser (So.-Plymouth, Wis.) added seven.

Emma Bruder (Sr.-Frankfort, Ill.) also led the back row with 31 digs over the two matches. Neenah Primas (So.-Oostburg, Wis.) also notched 72 assists, 16 digs plus eight kills from the setter spot.

Lakeland was the lone team to go 2-0 on the first day of play in the round-robin event. Cardinal Stritch, UW-La Crosse and Wisconsin Lutheran College all finished 1-1 for the day, while Oglethorpe (Ga.) University was defeated twice in a pair of close matches.

The tourney continues Saturday with the Muskies hosting their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference rival Wisconsin Lutheran for a non-conference match at 10 a.m. Lakeland then will face Oglethorpe at 2 p.m.

2018 Lakeland VB Tournament Website