#3 Wayne State 3 #14 Minnesota State 1

            Senior All-American middle hitter Jennifer Hefner produced 17 kills and six blocks to power #3 Wayne State in a 3-1 Northern Sun Conference volleyball win over #14 Minnesota State Tuesday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  The win by the Wildcats avenged an earlier loss to the Mavericks in Mankato when Minnesota State handed then #1 WSC its first loss of the season on October 8.  Scores of the match were 25-17, 25-20, 22-25 and 25-17.  WSC is now 19-2 and 10-2 in the NSIC while Minnesota State falls to 14-6 and 6-6 in league play.

            The Wildcats jumped out to a quick start, taking a 9-0 lead in the first set forcing the Mavericks to take both of their timeouts early to stop the WSC momentum.  The Wildcats went on to a 25-17 first set win, holding Minnesota State to a .000 hitting percentage with eight errors and eight kills for the Mavericks while WSC had 13 kills.

            The second set was much closer until the Wildcats used a scoring spurt midway through the set to take control.  Minnesota State held a 10-9 lead, but WSC scored eight of the next nine points to go up 17-11 and never looked back in winning the second set 25-20.

            Minnesota State used a match-high 17 kills in the third set and a late scoring run to defeat the Wildcats 25-22.  With the score tied at 21-21, the Mavericks used back-to-back kills by Kimber Kuhl to give MSU a 23-21 lead.  An Amanda Beekman kill put the Mavericks up 24-21, but WSC stayed alive in the set with a block by Mindy Moody and Tali Fredrickson, but another kill by Beekman sealed Minnesota State's 25-22 win in the third set.

            The fourth set saw WSC rally from an early 5-0 deficit as the Wildcats stormed back for a 25-17 win over the Mavericks to finish the match with a 3-1 win.  Highlighting Wayne State's rally was three service aces in a four point span by Wildcat freshman McKenna Reagan that forced Minnesota State to take a timeout.  Tied at 9-9, WSC took the lead for good on back-to-back kills by Shelby Schultz and a block by Mindy Moody and Tali Fredrickson to lead 12-9 and the Wildcats slowly built their lead to finish off the Mavericks.

            WSC held a slight 51-50 edge in kills over Minnesota State, but forced the Mavericks into 29 attack errors compared to 19 for the Wildcats.  The Wildcats outhit the Mavericks .193-.127 and WSC had 12 blocks in the win to nine for Minnesota State.

            Hefner finished her strong hitting night with a .395 attack percentage with her 17 kills and just two errors in 38 attacks.  Tali Fredrickson added 10 kills while Mindy Moody, Cori Hobbs and Shelby Schultz each accounted for seven kills.  Freshman McKenna Reagan had 20 digs with four service aces while Fredrickson finished with 18 digs for her third straight double-double.  Junior libero Leigh Connot accounted for 17 digs while setter Diedra Artz was credited with 42 set assists.

            For Minnesota State, Chelsea Fogarty notched a match-high 20 kills to go with 16 digs while Kimber Kuhl contributed 10 kills.  Libero Samantha Dale was credited with 28 digs while Brittany Stamer had 42 set assists with 13 digs.          

            Wayne State will be at home again this weekend, hosting Northern State Friday night at 7:00 p.m. and the University of Mary Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in Northern Sun Conference contests at Rice Auditorium.