WHEATON, Mass. – The 2012 Emerson Women's Volleyball Team opened up their season this weekend as they went 1-1 at the Wheaton Invitational. The Lions topped Plymouth State 3-1 after falling to host Wheaton in a 3-2 heartbreaker. On the year the Lions now hold at 1-1.

In the first match of the day the Lions took on the host Lyons which saw EC roll out to a commanding lead, taking both of the first two sets 25-22. Kat Westbrook dominated the first set with five kills to swing .500, which she matched with five more kills in the second set as EC jumped out 2-0.

Wheaton came out composed in the third set though to strike back as they swung .323 while putting up two blocks to stifle the Emerson attack. Arieanne Creighton put up four kills for the Lyons who swept off with a 25-16 win. Into the fourth set, Emerson looked as though they could put the match away finally clawing to match point on the Lyons in extra points, but couldn't seem to push the last point. Some key blocking on Wheaton's side made the difference in the end as they sent it to five with a 26-24 win.

Emerson looked exhausted in the fifth set though as Wheaton took their momentum from set four to their advantage, hitting .267 while capitalizing on over 10 unforced errors by the Lions who fell 15-10.

Emerson stepped back up in the second match of the weekend though as they took on the Plymouth State Panthers. The Lions defense was absolutely dominant throughout as well, putting up 9.5 blocks with Kat Rice putting up two solo and three block assists all on her own.

Rice also led the assault on the Panthers, putting up 11 kills for a .348 average in the match while rookies Guili Frendak put up 10 kills and Briana Velez floored six. Juliana Tucker also represented the freshman class, quarterbacking the team with 38 assists in the set en route to a 25-16, 25-22, 28-26 and 25-20 win for Emerson.

Next up the Lions will travel to Springfield next weekend to face-off in the Western New England Invitational. Matches start Friday night and continue into Saturday.