Box Score #20 Metro State 3 #17 Wayne State 2

            20^th-ranked Metro State Denver outlasted #17 Wayne State College in five sets Saturday evening in the championship match of the Colorado Premier Volleyball Tournament in Denver, Colorado.  Scores of the match were 16-25, 31-29, 25-21, 17-25 and 12-15.  The Wildcats are now 6-1 on the season with MSU Denver now 6-2.
            Metro State hit a sizzling .480 in the opening set and controlled the Wildcats 25-16 despite four kills each from Taya Beller and Jaz DeHaan.
            The Wildcats battled back in the second set in a battle that saw 15 ties and five lead changes between the two clubs.  WSC had leads of 17-13 and 22-19, but the Roadrunners rallied and had set point at 24-23 until WSC forced back-to-back errors to take a 25-24 lead.  Tied at 29, WSC forced a Metro attack error and got set point on a Kelsie Cada kill to post a 31-29 set win.
            WSC forced 12 Metro State attack errors in the second set win with Maggie Brahmer posting a team-high four kills.
            Wayne State used strong hitting the third set, 17 kills and a .375 attack percentage, to record a 25-21 third set win over the Roadrunners.  Brahmer had five kills for the Wildcats followed by Jaz DeHaan and Taya Beller with four apiece.
            Metro State came back in the fourth set and hit a scorching .556 with 16 kills on 27 attacks and just one error to post a 25-17 set win and force a fifth set.
            The Wildcats started strong in the fifth set, taking leads of 4-1 and 8-5.  With WSC leading 8-6, Metro State scored four straight points to take the lead for good at 10-8. 
            WSC trailed 13-9, but scored three straight points on kills by Rachel Walker, Beller and DeHaan to get within one at 13-12.  But Metro State got consecutive kills to end the match and win the fifth set 15-12.
            Metro State Denver had a .313 attack percentage with 75 kills in the match while WSC had a .247 attack percentage and 64 kills.  Both teams had 23 attack errors.  The Roadrunners held a 70-57 advantage in digs, 9-4 edge in blocks and 5-2 upper hand in service aces.
            DeHaan led Wayne State with 17 kills in the match.  Taya Beller followed with 16 while Kelsie Cada added 15 kills and 12 digs.  Libero Alaina Wolff was credited with a team-high 17 digs with Jordan McCormick adding 11.  Setter Rachel Walker handed out 54 set assists.
            Three Wildcats were announced to the Colorado Premier All-Tournament Team following the conclusion of the tournament – Taya Beller, Maggie Brahmer and Rachel Walker.
            Wayne State opens Northern Sun Conference play on the road next weekend visiting #11 Minnesota Duluth Friday at 6 p.m. followed by a Saturday afternoon 2 p.m. match at #13 St. Cloud State.