#1 Concordia-St. Paul 3 #17 Wayne State 0
The Wayne State College volleyball saw their 2009 season come to an end Friday evening at the NCAA Central Regional Semi Finals in St. Paul, Minnesota as two-time defending national champion Concordia-St. Paul swept the Wildcats 25-17, 25-13 and 25-10. The Golden Bears, who have won 70 consecutive matches, improve to 33-0 on the season while WSC ends the year at 29-8. Concordia-St. Paul now advances to the NCAA Central Regional Final on Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. against Metro State of Colorado, who swept Minnesota Duluth (25-23,25-21,25-18) in the opening semi-final Friday evening.
Wayne State started strong in the first set, taking an early 8-3 lead on the host Golden Bears. But Concordia-St. Paul used a pair of scoring runs to take the lead for good in the first set. With the Wildcats in front 8-3, the Golden Bears scored six of the next seven points to tie the set at 9-9. Wayne State's last lead was at 10-9, then CU scored the next five points to go up 14-10 and WSC could not rally as the Golden Bears went on to a 25-17 win in the first set.
The second set was close early with WSC trailing 8-6. But Concordia-St. Paul scored 11 of the next 12 points to take a commanding 19-7 lead on their way to a 25-13 win in the second set. The Golden Bears hit .389 in the second set with 18 kills against the 'Cats.
In the third set, Concordia-St. Paul took an early 7-3 lead forcing Wildcat coach Scott Kneifl to take his first timeout. The 'Cats pulled within two points at 10-8, but Concordia-St. Paul scored the next six points to gain control of the third set and went on to a 25-10 win, sweeping the Wildcats in three sets.
Concordia-St. Paul hit .364 in the win while holding the Wildcats to a .018 hitting percentage. CSP had 43 kills to 24 for WSC and had 11 blocks to four for the Wildcats.
For Wayne State, junior middle hitter Jennifer Hefner had eight kills followed by sophomore outside hitter Tali Fredrickson with seven. Sophomore libero Leigh Connot had a team-high 11 digs while junior setter Diedra Artz was credited with 20 set assists for the Wildcats.
Wayne State College, ranked 17th in NCAA Division II, loses just one senior off the 2009 team as defensive specialist Tessa Wietfeld of Leigh, Nebraska closed her career in a Wildcat uniform by playing on four NCAA National Tournament qualifying teams and was a part of 106 wins, more than any other player in school history.
