St. Louis, MO - The Hendrix College volleyball team opened the 2017 season with a double header of matches during day one of the 2017 Bear Invitational hosted by Washington University in St. Louis. The first of two days saw the Warriors face off against the Dominican University Stars as well as the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin' Engineers, dropping both matches.

Match number one of the day was against Dominican, as the Stars handed the Warriors their first loss of the season 3-0 (16-25, 21-25, 17-25).  The Stars jumped out to a quick lead in set number one, leading from start to finish to take a 1-0 lead.

Hendrix wasn't going to let Dominican jump out to as big a lead in set two, and the Warriors kept the second set close early on. After taking the lead 5-4 early, Hendrix  faltered a little letting DU grow the lead on them. HC got the lead back up to three (15-12) thanks to a service ace by Megan Parker and a Stars error. The Warriors stayed within striking distance through the first half of the second set.

Unfortunately Dominican ran away in the second half of the set, taking a 2-0 lead heading into the third.

The third set was much like the first as the Warriors dropped their season opener to the Stars. Brandi Ryan led the team with seven kills while senior Lauren Petrisin added six. Sophomore Lauren Dwyer paced the Warriors with 12 digs. Junior Amber Melcher dished out a team best 12 assists as the Warriors turned around quickly for their second of two matches on the night.

That second match came against Rose-Hulman. Despite having their best hitting set of the night in set number one, Hendrix fell 3-1 (25-21,16-25,17-25, 22-25).

This time around Petrisin led with 18 kills while Dwyer added nine kills. Briana Kelly and Dwyer tied earning a team best 16 digs each, while Hannah Tackett and Maddie Tovar each paced the squad with a block.

Hendrix (0-2) will wrap up their weekend tomorrow morning when they face Hope College at 10:30 a.m. and Cornell College at 12:30 p.m.