#10 Wayne State 3 Northern State 1
Sophomore McKenna Reagan had career highs of 12 kills and 27 digs to help #10 Wayne State overcome a slow start in a 15-25, 25-20, 25-17 and 25-21 Northern Sun Conference volleyball win Friday evening at Northern State in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The Wildcats are now 16-6 overall and 9-4 in the NSIC while the host Wolves drop to 11-9 and 6-7 in league play.
The Wildcats struggled early, recording 17 attack errors in the first two sets. Northern State had 14 kills in the first set while taking advantage of nine WSC attack errors to pull away for a 25-15 win in the first set. Although WSC had eight attack errors in the second set, the 'Cats had a match-best 17 kills while holding Northern State to just nine to win the second set 25-20.
Wayne State's defense started to take over in the third set as the Wildcats forced Northern State into seven attack errors while WSC hit an efficient .308 in the third set for a 25-17 win. In the fourth set, the Wildcats made Northern State hit 10 attack errors as WSC posted a 25-21 win to take the match 3-1.
Wayne State hit .167 for the match compared to .126 for Northern State as the Wildcats held a 56-47 edge in kills. WSC also had 12 blocks to just five for the Wolves while the 'Cats had 93 digs in the match to 87 for NSU.
McKenna Reagan, sophomore from Elkhorn, notched career highs of 12 kills and 27 digs to lead a balanced effort for Wayne State in the win. Senior outside hitter Tali Fredrickson overcame a slow start and finished with her sixth straight double-double and 13th of the season with 14 kills and 22 digs. Junior rightside hitter Melanie Placke added 12 kills for the Wildcats while senior libero Leigh Connot had 17 digs. Sophomore setter Tatum Wroblewski finished with 46 set assists and 10 digs with freshman Stephanie Brand adding a career-high 13 digs.
Wayne State will be on the road again Saturday night visiting the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota for a 6:00 p.m. Northern Sun Conference contest.
