WHITEWATER – Lakeland University came out of the gates strong in its women's volleyball season opener, defeating Carleton (Minn.) College in four sets in its season debut at the UW-Whitewater Volleyball Invitational Friday evening.

The Muskies defeated the Knights 28-26, 18-25, 25-21, 25-14 on its way to finishing 1-1 on the first day of its season. Lakeland also ran into the nationally ranked tournament host team later in the night and was defeated 25-11, 25-20, 26-24 by a Whitewater team ranked 16th in the AVCA/NCAA Division Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll.

Shannon Bishop (Sr.-River Grove, Ill.) delivered 14 kills and freshman Riley Birr (Pulaski, Wis.) debuted with 10 kills. Erin Iwanski (Sr.-St. Francis, Wis.) also added a career-high nine kills and Abby Baumgartner (Jr.-Kewaunee, Wis.) also finished with nine kills.

Sydney Pingitore (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) also set a career high with 21 digs and Natalie Bova (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) served five aces for a career high. Neenah Primas (Jr.-Oostburg, Wis.) added 47 assists.

The Muskies found the going tougher against a perennially strong UW-Whitewater squad. Lakeland had a chance to push the match to four sets, leading 23-22 late in the third, but a service error and an attack error at 24-24 all allowed the Warhawks to clinch in three.

Bishop finished with a team-high seven kills and Megan Goeser (Jr.-Plymouth, Wis.) added six kills. Primas finished with 22 assists and Pingitore added 14 digs.

Lakeland finishes play at the UW-Whitewater invite Saturday with two more matches, first facing Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference rival MSOE in a non-conference meeting at 10 a.m. before taking on UW-Stout at 12:30 p.m.