ALLIANCE, Ohio—Wittenberg university women's volleyball opened up 2016 non-conference play on the road Friday night at the Mount Union Invitational. While the Tigers won't take on the host Mount Union until Saturday, invitational play kicked off with Wittenberg squaring off against a familiar opponent, Hope. A season ago, Wittenberg downed Hope three sets to one in Springfield, as the two programs squared off in the Wittenberg Classic. Friday night was a different story for the visiting Tigers, as Hope took the preseason number two team in the nation three sets to none. Wittenberg dropped consecutive sets 24-26, 15-25 and 18-25. Sophomore outside hitter Maddie Fischer shined bright for the Tigers, averaging four kills a set on 36 total attacks, on her way to 12 kills on the night. Wittenberg returns to invitational play on Saturday at noon, squaring off against Bethany, and again at 2:00PM against host Mount Union.

KEY STATS

• Wittenberg managed to produce a kill percentage of .098 on the day, while Hope slugged a .243 clip on the Tigers in the three-set victory.
• Sophomore Kennedey Schmidt and Fischer combined for 21 digs in the match, as the Tigers dug 46 balls in total to Hope's 64.
• Karen Wildemann was all over the court in the season-opener, scrambling for 18 assists on the night.
• Fischer led the Tigers with 13.5 points in the match, while senior outside hitter Camila Quiñones contributed eight points on seven kills.

FROM THE BENCH

• "Credit Hope for playing inspired volleyball tonight. We played hard but Hope's defense was up to the task…We will take what we learned tonight and continue to grow tomorrow," said Coach Labrador.

UP NEXT

• Wittenberg returns to action tomorrow with two matches, the first at noon against Bethany and then again at 2:00PM against tournament host Mount Union.