#3 Wayne State College rallied from a 2-1 set deficit to outlast #13 Nebraska-Kearney Friday evening in the semi-finals of the NCAA Central Region Volleyball Tournament held at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Scores of the match were 18-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-22, 15-9.  The Wildcats are now 30-2 on the season while the Lopers end the year at 29-6.  The victory also marked the 450^th win for Wildcat head coach Scott Kneifl as Wayne State advanced to its' second-ever NCAA regional final.
            WSC held the lead early in the opening set as Taya Beller smashed four straight kills to give the Wildcats an early 7-3 lead.  Beller added a service ace to score five of Wayne State's first nine points.  But UNK battled back and gained a 14-13 lead and with a 15-15 tie rattled off four straight points for a 19-15 lead.  The Lopers extended their lead to close the first set with a 25-18 win.
            Beller had six kills and one service ace to lead the 'Cats in the opening set.
            The Wildcats came back in a tightly contested second set and forced nine UNK errors that included six WSC blocks as Wayne State posted a 25-23 set win.  With the score tied at 15-15, the 'Cats forced a UNK error, got a Rachel Walker service ace and block by Cada and Brahmer to take an 18-15 lead.  After a UNK timeout, the 'Cats used a Cada kill and block by Taylor Bunjer and Brahmer to take a 20-16 lead.
            The Lopers closed within one several times, but the 'Cats got a kill to close the set by Cada to even the match with a 25-23 second set victory.
            The third set saw the 'Cats get off to a great start, taking leads of 5-1 and 10-6.  However, the Lopers roared back to even the set at 11-11 and took a 16-14 lead to force a Wildcat timeout.  WSC was within two at 21-19, but the Lopers closed the set with five of the final six points for a 25-20 win.
            Channatee Robles had six kills on seven attacks to lead the 'Cats in the third set.
            The fourth set was back and forth early, then WSC went on a 9-3 scoring run to take a commanding 21-13 lead.  The Lopers scored seven straight to pull within one at 21-20 forcing a Wildcat timeout.  The 'Cats scored the next three points, capped by a Jordan McCormick service ace, and closed the set with a 25-22 win to force a fifth set.
            Maggie Brahmer had five kills and two blocks for the 'Cats in the crucial fourth set with Beller adding four kills and two blocks.
            The fifth set was close throughout until a four-point scoring run to close the set giving Wayne State a 15-9 win.  WSC hit .318 in the set with nine kills.  The 'Cats jumped out to a 7-4 lead, but UNK battled back and trailed 9-8.  WSC used a UNK service error and attack error for an 11-8 lead.  Following a Loper point, WSC scored the final four points on a pair of Kelsie Cada kills, a Taya Beller kill and Robles service ace for the 15-9 win.
            UNK held a .218-.212 hitting advantage on the Wildcats.  WSC recorded a season-high 16 blocks in the win and had six service aces, one less than the Lopers. 
            Beller finished with a career-high 22 kills to lead the Wildcats.  Cada followed with 14 kills while Robles and Brahmer each had 11.  Brahmer led WSC with nine blocks followed by Bunjer with seven and Beller six.           
            Senior libero Jordan McCormick had 23 digs with Cada adding 19 and Havyn Heinz 11.  Setter Rachel Walker handed out 52 assists.
            Wayne State advances to the NCAA Central Region final Saturday evening at 7 p.m. against the winner of the Concordia-St. Paul vs. Central Missouri match played late Friday evening.