GAME STATS 1 Whitewater, Wis.- The Wheaton Thunder volleyball team opened their 2012 season on Friday with a pair of losses at the UW-Whitewater Invitational in Whitewater, Wisconsin.  Wheaton started the day with 3-2 loss to Gustavus Adolphus.  The Thunder then fell in straight sets to Augsburg College in their second match.

The Thunder rallied from behind after dropping the first and third set to the Gusties of Gustavus Adolphus before falling 22-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-18, 10-15.  Lauren Wilhite led the Thunder with 25 assists while Cassie Murphy tallied 15.  Leah DeMoss paced Wheaton with 15 kills while the duo of Megan McKinley and Lindsay Stein each finished with seven.  Megan Thornton reorded five service aces in the match for the Thunder.  Emily Buyse had two blocks to lead the team in that category.

With only a few minutes between matches, Wheaton fell to the Auggies of Augsburg College 19-25, 22-25, 14-25.  Murphy led the Thunder with six kills and along with Wilhite, led the team with nine assists.  Kelli Manning recorded 11 diggs for the Thunder while Thornton and Cora Nott each had two service aces.

The Thunder will continue action in the UW-Whitewater Invitational at noon on Saturday when they take on UW-Oshkosh.  Wheaton will then play the host UW-Whitewater Warhawks at 2 PM.  Live stats will be available for the UW-Whitewater contest.