AUSTIN, Tex. -- The Purdue Northwest Women's Volleyball team dropped both of their opening matches at the St. Edwards University Hilltopper Invite. Freshman Jenna Dal Santo (St. John, Ind./Andrean) paced the squad with 34 kills while junior Brooke Ahrens (Covington, Ind./Covington) added 63 assists over the two matches as PNW took both to five sets.

MATCH ONE: ENMU 3, PNW 2

The Pride were defeated in five sets by Eastern New Mexico University. Freshman Jenna Dal Santo led the way for PNW with 17 kills, while Brooke Ahrens hitting an impressive .333.

The Black and Gold came out strong, as they stormed out to an early lead in the first set and never relinquished the lead. A Carissa Jones (Whiting, Ind./Bishop Noll) kill from Brooke Ahrens gave the Pride a 25-18 win.

The second set was much more tightly contested, with both teams trading the lead back and forth throughout the match. After a Sarah Tuioti-Mariner service ace made it 22-20 Greyhounds, PNW won six of the next eight points and closed out the second set on a Jenna Dal Santo kill to give Purdue Northwest a 2-0 set lead. 

After a Greyhound service error made it 10-9 Pride in the third set, ENMU took off 13 of the next 17 points and eventually won the third set 25-17. 

In the fourth set, the Black and Gold once again got down early before fighting back to get the score even at 24-24 after a Greyhound attack error. However, Jasmine Gannon closed it out with a kill for ENMU as they forced a decisive fifth set.

The Pride were unable to close it out in the fifth set and fell three sets to two. 

MATCH TWO: UTPB 3, PNW 2

University of Texas-Permian Basin came out attacking, as they grabbed an early lead. An attack error from the Falcons evened the set at 19, but UTPB would take six of the next nine points and win the first set 25-22 on an Annie Pulizos (Greendale, Wis./Greendale) attack error.

Purdue Northwest came out swinging in the second set, jumping out to an early 6-1 lead after a Carissa Jones kill. The Pride continued to roll, pushing the lead out to 17-11 after a Serene Jones (Crest Hill, Ill./Lockport Township) service ace. The Falcons stormed back and ended up taking the set in extra time 28-26, after a Puava Tulau kill.

PNW got back into the winning column during the third set, despite falling behind by as much as 18-9. After the Falcons got a point off of a Brooke Ahrens attack error, the Pride put up nine straight points to take the set by a final of 25-21 on an attack error from UTPB.

The fourth set was once again dominated by Purdue Northwest, as the Pride took advantage of nine attack errors from UTPB and closed it out with a Jenna Dal Santo kill to send the Black and Gold to their second five-set match of the day.

In the fifth and final set, both teams rallied and kept it close but the Falcons ended up coming out victorious by a final of 15-13.

PNW will be back at it Saturday at 12 P.M. with a matchup against Colorado State-Pueblo followed by the tournament's host St. Edwards University at 4 P.M.