By: Jake Krier, UWEC Sports Information

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (blugolds.com) - The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire volleyball team opened up the 2017 Sandy Schumacher Memorial Tournament with an impressive win on Friday night over Martin Luther College.

It was a full-team effort for the Blugolds in the three-set victory, as Coach Wudi was able to incorporate fourteen players into the match. Eau Claire was victorious via scores of 25-17, 25-23, and 25-14. They had to play from behind in the first two sets, but it was all blue and gold from start to finish in set three.

Contributing significantly into the win was setter Madison Surprise (Jr.-Appleton, WI/Kimberly). She put up 40 assists in only three sets of play.

Benefitting from Surprise's sets were six different Eau Claire hitters. Leading the pack on Friday was Jessica Coyne (Jr.-Verona, WI). The junior used an eight-kill second set to propel her to a team-best 14 kills in the match. Also posting double digits in the kill department was Madelyn Pashibin (Jr.-Minneapolis, MN/Minneapolis Southwest) with eleven.

Handling the Knights' attack for the Blugolds defensively and earning double digits in digs were Talia Jaskulske (Sr.-Maplewood, MN/North St. Paul) with 16 and Makenzie Bachmann (Fr.-Chaska, MN) with ten.

Eau Claire concludes the Sandy Schumacher Memorial Tournament Saturday afternoon with a battle against No. 15-ranked Millikin University at 10:00 a.m. and a matinée versus Augsburg University at 2:00 p.m.

Follow all the action on Blugold Game Day.