Winona State University’s volleyball team had a rough weekend, suffering their first two losses on the season.

On Friday Sept. 20, it was a battle each and every set against No. 19 St. Cloud State University, but the Warriors ultimately came up short by an average of only three points per loss, with the Huskies taking this match up 3-1.

Saturday, Sept. 21, the Warriors had yet another tough fight against No. 4 University of Minnesota Duluth, battling to the wire in the first set, but losing 22-25.

Continuing to leave it all out on the court, the Warriors just could not get things to go their way in the second and third set losing 16-25 and 19-25.

Since 2010, the Warriors and the Bulldogs have met 16 times; all but one of those times going Duluth’s way.

“Each game was close, and one could never see defeat in our faces despite the score,” sophomore Hannah McCann said.

McCann also went on to say they did not play their best volleyball this past weekend.

“We play Winona State Volleyball every day in practice, but it was not evident in the past weekend’s matches,” McCann said.

Leading the way offensively this weekend was first-year Madison Larson, who recorded 32 kills.

Setting up the scores, junior Bre Maloney was her usual self with 64 assists during the two contests.

On the defensive side of things, it was sophomore Madison Rizner shutting down the opponent eight times at the net, while junior Becca Pagel put her reflexes to the test recording 27 digs.

The Warriors are now 8-2 on the season and 0-2 in the NSIC.

“I think that the losses this weekend fueled a fire in our bellies and will make us work even harder this next week and as the season progresses,” McCann said.  “Moving forward, everyone on the team knows how difficult it is to be successful in this conference. Meaning every rep in practice is valuable.”

After spending their first ten matches on the road, the Warriors will finally get to play on their homecourt this weekend taking on Bemidji State and the University of Minnesota Crookston.

“We are especially excited to be at home, because we have been away for so long,” McCann said.  “Personally, I can’t wait to play in our own gym and defend Winona State. Playing at home will also push us to achieve some goals that we have set, and we can’t wait to show the Winona State Volleyball that we play every day in our gym.”

The Warriors will start their weekend Friday, Sept. 27 at 6 p.m., with Saturday’s matchup starting at 2 p.m.