SEWARD, Neb. – The York University volleyball team lost the season-opening match at Concordia by a score of 3-0 Saturday afternoon.

Set scores were 25-10, 25-8, 25-19.

Head coach Irick Gardner's team was led by Kaylee Weigel's team-best five kills. Liberty Baker, Jai Dotson and Avery Schneider added two kills apiece. Kensey Clifton dished out nine assists while Valentina Jimenez distributed three.

Defensively, Dotson had a solo block and a block assist. Clifton led the way with 12 digs while Jimenez accounted for 10.

Trailing 20-7 in the first set, Dotson and Emma Kerley combined for a block at the net. Moments later, Weigel and Baker slammed home back-to-back kills to make it 22-10. However, Concordia managed to rattle off the final next three points for a 25-10 win in the set.

Dotson made it 2-1 in the early going of the second stanza. Down 4-1, Weigel slammed home a pass from Jiminez to pull within two at 4-2. With the score at 7-2, Ronan Merriex hammered home a kill off a pass from Clifton before an attack error by the home squad made it 7-4, but the home team embarked on an 18-4 run for the second set victory.  

Trailing 6-3 in the third stanza, Florencia Felmer slammed home a pass from Clifton. After a miscue by Concordia, Ambar Ortiz served up an ace, knotting the score at 6-6. A few plays later, Weigel found the court on a kill, making it 8-8. With the score at 19-14, Baker added a kill before a miscue pulled the Panthers within three at 19-16. However, that was as close as York could get the rest of the way.

For the match, York garnered 14 kills and had 13 assists. The squad totaled 47 digs and had three total blocks.

The Panthers return to action Wednesday when they play at Peru State at 6 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at Yorkpanthers.com.