#12 Wayne State 3 #19 Minnesota State 2
A controversial call against Wayne State in the fifth set sparked the 12th ranked Wildcats to rally from a 10-4 deficit in the fifth set as Wayne State came back to top #19 Minnesota State 16-14 in the fifth set to win a thrilling five-set Northern Sun Conference volleyball match Friday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. Scores of the match were 25-16, 25-21, 14-25, 16-25 and 16-14. WSC improves to 12-5 on the season and 5-3 in the NSIC while Minnesota State falls to 10-6 and 3-5 in league play.
The Wildcats controlled the first two sets while forcing Minnesota State into 16 attack errors as WSC recorded 25-16 and 25-21 wins over the Mavericks. However, Minnesota State came out of the intermission fired up and recorded a match-high 17 kills in the third set while holding WSC to just six kills in a 25-14 win. The Mavericks then forced 10 WSC attack errors in the fourth set and rolled to a 25-16 win to force a fifth set.
The fifth set early on was all Minnesota State as the Mavericks built an early 10-4 lead. But that's when the turning point occurred as the controversial point awarded to Minnesota State on a kill by Chelsea Fogerty was argued by WSC head coach Scott Kneifl, resulting in a yellow card. That call sparked the Wildcats and the Rice Auditorium crowd as WSC then scored three of the next four points to make the score 11-7. WSC then reeled off four of the next five points and tied the score at 12-12 on a Wildcat block by Alex Armes and Cori Hobbs.
Each team traded errors to make the score 13-13 and Minnesota State used a kill by Jenna McNallan to serve for match point at 14-13 Mavericks. A Melanie Placke kill tied the score at 14-14 and a Wildcat block by Tatum Wroblewski and Mindy Moody gave WSC the 15-14 lead. The Wildcats capped the great rally as Cori Hobbs recorded a kill to give Wayne State the dramatic 16-14 win in the fifth set.
Minnesota State outhit WSC .172-.124 and held a 65-46 edge in kills over the Wildcats. MSU had 33 attack errors to 23 for WSC. Sophomore Cori Hobbs paced Wayne State with a team-high 14 kills to go with 11 digs and five blocks while Tali Fredrickson accounted for 10 kills and 20 digs. Senior libero Leigh Connot had 24 digs while sophomore setter Tatum Wroblewski had 37 set assists and four service aces for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats will face another Top 25 matchup Saturday afternoon, entertaining #6 Southwest Minnesota State in a 4:00 p.m. Northern Sun Conference contest at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.
