ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Pacific Lutheran found out how good the competition is in Division III volleyball in the central part of the country as the Lutes were beaten twice in the opening day of the Washington U./ASICS Invitational.

The Lutes had entered the tournament ranked No. 10 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III national poll, but they ran into a couple of other nationally opponents on Friday. First, they fell to No. 17 Wisconsin-Whitewater, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-14, and then it was host and No. 8 Washington University that topped the Lutes, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-12.

"I thought we played pretty well, for sure in the first and second sets of each match," PLU head coach Kevin Aoki said. "The teams we played are pretty good, a notch above what we faced last weekend."

Aoki added that senior Kelcy Joynt had the strongest showing for PLU, compiling 10 kills against Whitewater and 12 against Washington U. She finished the day with a .327 attack percentage. 

Complete match statistics were not available.

PLU completes its appearance at the ASICS Invitational on Saturday with matches against two other ranked opponents, No. 4-ranked Ohio Northern and No. 18-ranked Concordia (Minn.) Ohio Northern is 2-0 in the tournament and Concordia is 0-2.

- PLU -