No. 6 Berry kicked off its season in San Antonio, Texas on Friday, playing in the Trinity National Invitational. The Vikings lost in a fifth-set extra-points heartbreaker to No. 1 ranked University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire in the first match of the day, 3-2 (20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 10-25, 17-15), before falling 3-0 in the nightcap to No. 5 Trinity (27-25, 25-22, 25-20).

Match One

The Vikings jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the final set, but UW-Eau Claire rallied back to take an 11-10 lead. Berry faced two match points against it, trailing 14-12, but the Vikings battled back. A kill by Peyton Breissinger brought the Vikings within one, then a solo block by Molly Bergin danced tantalizingly on top of the net before falling in, tying the score at 14-all. A rally would come to an end with a UWEC hitting error, giving the Vikings match point at 15-14. That would prove to be as close as Berry would come. A service error, a UWEC kill, and a Berry attack error gave the top team in the country the win in the final set, 17-15.

Berry took the first set 25-20 after an intense back and forth battle. The Vikings took off with momentum towards the end of the set closing it out with a comfortable five-point deficit, winning the first set of the season. UW-Eau Claire took the second set 25-22 after another hard fought battle, the BluGolds keeping the Vikings at a two-point arms length at all times.

The third set started much like the previous, but UW-Eau Claire edged Berry 25-23, putting the Vikings in a now or never situation.

With a possible upset on the line, Berry went on a six-point run to start the fourth set, giving everything to force a fifth. The Vikings came alive as they doubled up leading 18-9, that being the biggest point difference of the match-up so far. Berry won the set 25-10 with all of the momentum. Peyton Breissinger put on a serving clinic as she recorded nine aces on the day.

Though the Vikings came up short, their numbers were nothing short of impressive as Bergin recorded 18 kills and 11 digs for a double-double, while Peyton Breissinger recorded 10 kills and 18 digs.

Game Two

The Vikings fell in the first set 27-25 in a nailbiter. The Vikings held leads in the early and middle stages of the set over Trinity until the Tigers went on a four-point scoring run towards the end, pushing them over the edge. Breissinger recorded seven kills in the first set alone.

Trinity kept up their momentum heading into the second set, winning 25-22. Even though Berry led in every major category statistically, the Tigers seemed to find a way to best the Vikings. Berry was able to fight for some momentum in the third set but ultimately fell short as the Tigers were able to tire out Berry 25-20.

Breissinger recorded 12 kills on the night, while Emily Rapach had 31 assists. Zoe Wooten had a team-best five total blocks.

The Vikings will be back on Saturday facing the University of Wisconsin-Stout at 1:15 p.m. EDT.