Box Score #11 Wayne State 3 Augustana 1

            Double-doubles from Katie Hughes and Michaela Mestl as well as six blocks from Alex Opperman powered #11 Wayne State College in a 19-25, 26-24, 25-22 and 25-16 victory in Northern Sun Conference volleyball action Tuesday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne on Black Out/Pack The House Night.  A crowd of 1,216 was the fourth-largest single attendance mark in school history.  The Wildcats are now 21-4 overall and 13-3 in the NSIC while the Vikings fall to 15-9 overall and 8-8 in conference play.
            The first set was controlled early by Wayne State, but Augustana rallied from an 8-5 deficit and took the lead for good at 10-9 as the Vikings pulled away for a 25-19 set win.  Augustana forced a match-high seven attack errors on the Wildcats in the first set.
            The second set was tightly contested with 15 ties and eight lead changes.  With the score tied at 24-24, WSC got kills from Elizabeth Gebhardt and Michaela Mestl to win the set 26-24.
            Augustana jumped out quickly in the third set, taking a 9-4 lead on the Wildcats.  WSC regained the momentum by scoring five straight points to even the set at 9-9 followed by a streak of four straight points, all on Viking attack or service errors, to give WSC a 14-10 lead that the Wildcats would never relinquish in taking a 25-22 set win.
            The fourth set was close early on, but WSC used four straight points to erase an early Augustana lead and WSC pulled away for a 25-16 win to finish with a 3-1 match victory over the Vikings.
            Wayne State hit .188 in the match with Augustana recording a .172 attack percentage.  The contest featured numerous lengthy rallies, producing 101 digs for the Vikings and 100 by the Wildcats.  WSC had seven more kills than the Vikings, 58-51, while Augustana had one more block than the Wildcats, 10-9.  The Wildcats had five service aces and six errors while Augustana had eight aces and 10 service errors.
            Junior rightside hitter Elizabeth Gebhardt and junior outside hitter Katie Hughes had 15 kills apiece while sophomore Michaela Mestl recorded a season-high 14 kills.  Mestl added 38 digs, tied for the fifth-most in single game by a Wildcat player, for her second double-double of the season while Hughes finished with 13 digs to account for her 14^th double-double of the year.
            Junior libero Courtney VanGroningen produced 30 digs in the match while junior setter Leisa McClintock handed out 53 set assists. 
            The Wildcats will be on the road this weekend, playing at #2 Minnesota Duluth Friday at 7 p.m. and St. Cloud State Saturday in a 4 p.m. contest.