Box Score #12 Neb.-Kearney 3 #4 Wayne State 0

            #12 Nebraska-Kearney defeated #4 Wayne State College 25-22, 25-22 and 25-19 Tuesday evening in the 10^th annual Pack the House/Black Out Night volleyball match played at Rice Auditorium in Wayne before a crowd of 1,162 fans, the eighth-largest crowd in school history.  The visiting Lopers improve to 26-5 on the season while WSC falls to 23-5. 
            The visiting Lopers used an aggressive serve early to take a 10-5 lead on the Wildcats in the first set.  Trailing 21-18, WSC used kills from Alyssa Frauendorfer, Katie Hughes and Leisa McClintock to knot the score at 21 forcing a Loper timeout.
            After the teams traded points, UNK used a Wildcat error followed by a block and kill from Annie Wolfe to take the first set 25-22.
            The second set was similar to the first as the visiting Lopers built a 17-10 lead.  Again, WSC rallied late to tie the score at 21.  But UNK got back to back kills to take a 23-21 advantage.  Following a Michaela Mestl kill that got the 'Cats within 23-22, the Lopers closed out WSC with the final two points for another 25-22 set win.
            The third set featured eight ties and three lead changes, but it was WSC that took the early lead before UNK rallied to close out the Wildcats. 
            WSC held a 9-8 lead until the Lopers scored three straight points forcing a WSC timeout with UNK up 11-9.
            After WSC came back to even the set at 12, UNK took control of the set scoring six of the next eight points for an 18-14 lead.  WSC never got closer than three the rest of the set as UNK completed the sweep with a 25-19 win.
            UNK registered a .271 attack percentage in the win compared to .211 for the Wildcats.  Both teams had 14 attack errors, but the Lopers held a 50-44 advantage in kills and 77-64 edge in digs.  UNK had six service aces to just one for WSC, but the Wildcats had a 7-5 edge in blocks over the Lopers.
            Junior Michaela Mestl led WSC with 12 kills and 17 digs for her 11^th double-double of the year.  Junior middle hitter Alyssa Frauendorfer added 11 kills and had four blocks while Elizabeth Gebhardt produced 10 kills and three blocks.
            Senior libero Courtney VanGroningen was credited with 15 digs and became just the second player in school history to record 2,000 career digs (2,004).  Katie Hughes and Bree Ackermann also reached double digit digs with 11 and 10 respectively.  Senior setter Leisa McClintock handed out 35 set assists. 
            The Wildcats will be on the road this weekend, playing at Upper Iowa Friday at 7 p.m. and at #25 Winona State Saturday in a 4 p.m. contest.