#4 Neb.-Kearney 3 #14 Wayne State 1
14th-ranked Wayne State College hit a season-low .074 with 26 hitting errors Tuesday evening in a 3-1 non-conference volleyball loss at #4 Nebraska-Kearney. Scores of the match were 25-15, 25-14, 21-25 and 25-17. The Wildcats fall to 24-6 on the season while UNK improves to 29-1 overall.
UNK controlled the first two sets of the match as WSC hit -.030 in the first set with nine hitting errors, allowing the Lopers to win easily 25-15. The second set also saw the Lopers hit .375 with 18 kills and just three errors to take down the Wildcats 25-14 to take a quick 2-0 lead. WSC gained some momentum in the third set and had 12 kills to top UNK 25-21. The Wildcats took an early 9-5 lead in the fourth set, but the Lopers scored five straight points to take 10-9 lead forcing WSC into a timeout. With UNK leading 14-13, the Lopers scored four straight points to take a commanding 18-13 in the fourth set and went on to the 25-17 win to take the match 3-1.
Nebraska-Kearney outhit Wayne State in the match .267 to .074 and had 63 kills to 38 for the Wildcats. WSC did have 11 blocks in the match to seven for the Lopers.
Jennifer Hefner accounted for nine kills and seven blocks to lead Wayne State. Tali Fredrickson added eight kills followed by Mindy Moody and Shelby Schultz with seven apiece. Setter Diedra Artz recorded 31 set assists to go with 11 digs. Libero Leigh Connot led WSC on defense with 24 digs followed by Tessa Wietfeld with 15.
For Nebraska-Kearney, Erica Burson had 17 kills with Nikki Scott adding 16. Cola Svec handed out 54 set assists and had 13 digs while Katlyn Heiserman finished with 20 digs for the Lopers.
Wayne State will return to Northern Sun Conference play this weekend, hosting #16 Minnesota Duluth Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. and Bemidji State Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
