FOND DU LAC, Wis. - Marian University women's volleyball (0-5, 0-0 NACC) nearly came back to force a fifth set but fell to Lawrence in four sets with set scores of 20-25, 25-21, 25-13, and 28-26 in their home opener.

The Sabres came out strong in the first set hitting .233 with 12 kills.  The opening of the set was a back-and-forth affair that saw the set tied at 15 all before Marian then finished out the set strong.  The Sabres used a 9-3 run at the end of the set to give them a commanding 24-18 lead, clinching the set three points later.

Junior Katy Funkhouser led the Marian attack with four kills in the set, while freshman Amber Yahr had a set-high seven digs.

The second set saw the Vikings jump out to an early 11-5 lead that they were able to maintain for a majority of the set.  Marian once again had a strong finish to the set scoring six of the final nine points, but the Lawrence lead was too much to overcome in a 25-21 set loss.

Senior Catelyn Brehm had a big set in the back row for MU with nine digs, while the defense of the Sabres held Lawrence to a .067 hitting percentage.

The third set was all Lawrence as the Vikings used a 15-3 run in the middle of the set to cruise to a 25-13 set win.  The Vikings offense hit .385 in the set, while the defense of Lawrence held Marian to only five kills.

Lawrence built another big lead at 17-10 to open the fourth set, but the Sabres were able to battle back.  The 17-10 lead prompted a Marian timeout that propelled the Sabres to a 7-3 run that cut the MU deficit to three.  The Vikings then held off the charge and brought their lead to 23-19 before the Sabres scored five consecutive points to give MU the lead at 24-23.  Lawrence was then able to hold off a pair of set point opportunities for the Sabres and score four of the final five points to close out the match.

Both offenses performed well in the fourth set with Lawrence hitting .400 and the Sabres hitting .289 as the teams totalled 35 kills to only four errors.  Brehm led the Sabres with five kills in the set.

Funkhouser finished with a team-high 10 kills and Brehm recorded a team-high 19 digs to lead MU.  Freshman Jenna Skroski had a good night with 17 digs, while fellow Yahr hit .417 in the match to go with 14 digs and 21 assists.

Marian travels to the St. Catherine Tournament this weekend opening the tournament Friday, Sept. 9 against host St. Catherine and Nebraska Wesleyan.

--FightBlueFight--