RIPON, Wis. - The Ripon volleyball team salvaged their 2015 Red Hawks Invitational Saturday afternoon with an impressive victory over Midwest Conference rival St. Norbert College. The Red Hawks defeated St. Norbert in three sets (26-24, 25-19, 25-17), before ending the tournament with a loss to St. Mary's (Minn.), who won the event with an undefeated 4-0 record.

Ripon's match against St. Norbert featured 14 ties and four lead changes in the first set, but just four ties and zero lead changes in the final two frames. The Red Hawks held the advantage in nearly every statistical category, including kills (44-40), hitting percentage (.261-.142), blocks (9-1), and digs (58-52). Katie Berrell led Ripon with 15 kills, en route to earning a spot on the All-Tournament team, while Allison Barnes finished with 12 kills and seven digs. Abbi Williamson led the Red Hawks with 38 of the team's 43 assists, while her six block assists were tied with Emily Gary for the team lead. Stacie Klika also chipped in with a match-high 15 digs.

In their second match of the day, Ripon put up a fight, before falling to St. Mary's (Minn.) 25-17, 25-23, 25-12. Gary led the Red Hawks with eight kills, while Paige Buddenhagen was second on the team, with seven. Williamson added a team-high 20 assists, while also tying Klika and Stephanie Peterson for the team lead in digs, with seven. Ripon recorded more blocks than St. Mary's (9-7), with Kat Kulas leading the way with five block assists.

The Red Hawks will now turn their attention to conference play, which will begin next weekend on Saturday at Carroll University. That match will begin at 1 p.m. in Waukesha, Wis. and can be seen live at,http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/#.
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