NORTON, Mass. – A gritty opening weekend awaited the Emerson Women's Volleyball Team in the season opener as they split their two matches on the day at the Wheaton Invitational. The Lions topped Wheaton 23-25, 25-12, 23-25, 25 25-20 and 22-20 before falling to ESCU 25-19, 18-25, 18-25, 25-22 and 6-15. The Lions are now 2-0 on the season headed into next weekend's tournament at Western New England College.

The season's first match for the Lions placed first year Head Coach Ben Read against his former squad in the host team of Wheaton College where the Lions couldn't shake off the first set jitters as Wheaton battled off seven tie scores and eight lead changes to snake off with the first set 25-23. The Lions had something to say about in the second set though where they came out full throttle taking the first point and never looking back, landing 12 kills as a team to throw down a decisive 25-12 win to knot it up 1-1.

Set three proved to be another battle for EC as the Wheaton Lyons rattled the cage with a rally back from a 5-0 deficit to tie it up at 12 apiece then crank out two four point rallies as they squeezed out a 25-23 win. It looked grim for EC in the fourth set as well as wily Wheaton came out with an 8—1 lead before the Lions put on a clinic  with a 24-12 scoring spree over the bewildered Lyons to tie it with a 25-20 win to send it to five.

Set five gave the fans their moneys worth as the EC Lions jumped ahead with a 4-2 start before some gritty play brought Wheaton back into the picture. Fighting off eight tie scores and seven lead changes into extra points showed the Lions' heart as Alexa Krakowiak slammed down the deciding point in a 22-20 final to finish the first win of the season.

In the second match of the day the Lions came out looking calmer and confident as they faced off against ESCU who were fresh off a 3-1 win over Western New England College. While ESCU held tight with the Lions tying it at 12-12, EC put it into high gear through the rest of the set feeding off of Alexa Krakowiak's .250 attack percentage and two blocks at the net to take it 25-29.

ESCU wasn't about to make it a quick match though as they came out swinging in the second set with a .235 attack percentage as Samantha Slonski's five kills powered them to a 25-18 win to tie it up headed to three. The Lions couldn't contain Slonski again though as she posted a .375 attack percentage with four kills to fuel ESCU past Emerson 25-18 and put them a set away from a win.

The Lions sent that idea packing though as they clawed their way back from a deficit in set four as Madeleine Breeland blazed a .667 average from Jessica Drumright's nasty .625 setting percentage to give EC the 25-22 push and send it to their tenth set of the day.

The fatigue of the day seem to set in for the Lions though as ESCU exploded out of the gate controlling the tempo with Allie Henry's four assists while Samantha Slinski floored three kills en route to a 15-6 final and ESCU's  second win of the day and Emerson's first loss of the season.

The Emerson Women's Volleyball team will throttle back into action next weekend as they set to travel to the Western New England College Invitational in Springfield, Mass. next Friday and Saturday.