#3 Wayne State 3 #1 Concordia-St. Paul 0

            #3 Wayne State College avenged a five-set loss to Concordia-St. Paul last Saturday by sweeping the top-ranked Golden Bears Friday evening in the Northern Sun Conference opener for both teams played at Rice Auditorium in front of a crowd of 1,034 fans.  The Wildcats improve to 8-1 and 1-0 in the league while CSP is 9-1 and 0-1 in the NSIC.
            The Wildcats never trailed in the opening set, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead.  WSC still held a 10-6 lead until the Golden Bears rallied to force the lone tie of the first set at 13-13.
            WSC then used kills from Maggie Brahmer, Taya Beller and Rachel Walker to take a 16-13 advantage.  CSP closed within one at 18-17, but the 'Cats scored the next four points forcing a Golden Bear timeout and WSC went on to take a 25-19 first set win.
            The 'Cats hit .333 in the opening set without an attack error (10 kills) while forcing 11 CSP attack errors.  Norfolk Catholic freshman Channatee Robles had three kills in the first set.
            The second set featured nine ties and five lead changes as WSC escaped a CSP set point and the 'Cats battled back for a 28-26 set victory.
            A Taya Beller kill and service ace gave WSC a 16-11 lead at the midway point of the set forcing a Golden Bear timeout.  The 'Cats still held an 18-13 lead when CSP rallied and took a 23-22 lead. 
            A service ace by the Golden Bears out of the timeout gave CSP set point at 24-22, but WSC got a Golden Bear service error followed by an ace by setter Rachel Walker to knot the score at 24-24.
            The Golden Bears had set point again at 25-24, but the 'Cats used a Brahmer kill, Kelsie Cada service ace and a Robles kill to close the second set for a 28-26 win.
            Beller and Brahmer each posted five kills in the second set as WSC had five blocks in the set, forcing 10 more attack errors by the Golden Bears.
            The third set was close early until the 'Cats pulled away late to post a 25-21 set win and complete the sweep.
            The seventh and final tie of the third set came at 11-11.  WSC then scored four straight points to take the lead for good.  A Taylor Bunjer kill, Bunjer and Beller block, Robles kill and another block by Bunjer and Beller gave the 'Cats a four-point advantage.
            CSP did close to within 23-21 in the third set, but a Golden Bear service error followed by a CSP attack error on match point sealed the Wildcat win.
            Wayne State hit .254 in the win while holding CSP to a .162 attack percentage.  CSP did register 50 kills to 37 by WSC, but the 'Cats forced 27 attack errors on the Golden Bears and held an 11-2 edge in blocks.
            Beller paced Wayne State in hitting with 13 kills.  Cada and Brahmer each added seven kills with Robles finishing with six.
            Beller had six blocks with Bunjer adding five.  Senior libero Jordan McCormick had a team-high 16 digs with Cada adding 14 and setter Rachel Walker recorded her sixth double-double of the year with 31 assists and 12 digs.
            The Wildcats will be at home again Tuesday evening hosting Chadron State in a non-conference contest starting at 6 p.m. in Rice Auditorium.