Wayne State 3 Southwest Minnesota State 2

#12 Wayne State College rallied from a 2-1 deficit and came back to defeat #6 Southwest Minnesota State in five sets Saturday afternoon in Northern Sun Conference volleyball played at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  Scores of the match were 25-16, 19-25, 20-25, 25-23 and 15-7.  It was the second straight five set match against a Top 25 opponent for the Wildcats, who beat #19 Minnesota State in five sets Friday evening.  WSC is now 13-5 overall and 6-3 in the NSIC while SMSU is also 13-5 on the season while sporting a 7-2 league mark.

            The Wildcats forced the Mustangs into 10 attack errors in the first set while cruising to a 25-16 win.  However, an aggressive SMSU club came back strong in the second set with 21 kills and evened the match with a 25-19 win.  SMSU continued their strong hitting in the third set with 16 kills while forcing WSC into six attack errors as the Mustangs took a 2-1 lead with a 25-20 win in the third set.

            The fourth set saw WSC rebound with 16 kills while forcing SMSU into six attack errors to win 25-23 and force a fifth set for a second straight day.  In the fifth set with the score tied at 5-5, WSC took control by scoring five straight points and took a commanding 10-5 lead as the Wildcats never looked back in a 15-7 win in the fifth set.

            WSC outhit SMSU .196-.138 while the Mustangs had 65 kills to 57 for WSC.  However, the Mustangs had 35 attack errors to just 18 for the Wildcats.  WSC also held an 11-5 advantage in team blocks over the Mustangs.

            Senior outside hitter Tali Fredrickson had a stellar match for the Wildcats with 21 kills and 24 digs followed by Cori Hobbs with 15 kills and a career-high 19 digs.  Melanie Placke added 13 kills for WSC while sophomore setter Tatum Wroblewski had 46 set assists and 20 digs.  Senior libero Leigh Connot accounted for 23 digs and senior defensive specialist Nicole Brungardt added 12.

            Wayne State will be at home again next weekend, hosting Minnesota, Crookston Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. followed by a 3:00 p.m. home NSIC contest Saturday afternoon vs. MSU Moorhead.