Sophomore outside hitter Channatee Robles recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 12 digs to lead #15 Wayne State in a 25-12, 27-25, 25-22 victory over Winona State Tuesday evening in the opening round of the Northern Sun Conference Volleyball Tournament at Rice Auditorium.  WSC is now 23-7 on the season while Winona State ends the year with a 18-12 record.
            Wayne State's defense set the tone early in the match as the Wildcats forced 12 Winona State attack errors in the opening set to take early control with a 25-12 set win.
            Trailing 5-4 early in the set, the 'Cats used five straight points highlighted by three kills from Brooklyn Kusler to take a 9-5 lead and force a Warrior timeout.
            Following a Winona State kill out of the timeout, the 'Cats reeled off nine straight points for a commanding 19-6 lead to finish the opening set with a 25-12 win.
            Kusler had four kills to lead WSC in the first set followed by Taya Beller and Robles with two apiece.
            Wayne State held the lead for a majority of the second set with a pair of six point leads late, then had to go extra points to hold back a Winona State rally for a 27-25 win.
            The 'Cats were up 22-16 and had set point at 24-20, but Winona Stat scored five straight points to have set point.  A Kusler kill knotted the score at 25-25.  A solo block from Beller put the 'Cats ahead 26-25 and senior Brooke Peltz capped the rally with a service ace for a 27-25 second set victory.
            WSC had seven service aces in the set, led by Kusler with three.  Kusler, Beller, Robles and Maggie Brahmer each had three kills in the set while Beller produced three blocks.
            The third set was a battle that saw 13 ties and seven lead changes until the Wildcats used a late scoring surge to take control and finish with a 25-22 win for the sweep.
            Tied at 14-14, WSC used a Winona State service error followed by a Molly Romano ace and a Warrior attack error to take a 17-14 lead.  Back-to-back kills from Robles gave the 'Cats a 19-14 advantage and Winona State never got closer than three points as the Wildcats closed the match with a 25-22 set win.
            WSC forced eight more attack errors on Winona State in the set.  Robles had the hot hand for WSC in the final set with eight kills and no errors on 15 swings.
            Wayne State finished the match with a .229 hitting percentage while holding Winona State to .118.  Winona State held a 43-35 edge in kills but Winona State had 26 errors to just eight on the Wildcats.  The Warriors had a 67-64 edge in digs but WSC held an 8-3 advantage in blocks and 9-5 in service aces.
            Robles' double-double of 13 kills and 12 digs led the Wildcats while freshman setter Molly Romano had her team-leading 10^th double-double with 26 set assists and 14 digs. 
            Beller finished with eight kills and a team-high six blocks, moving her into fifth place on the all-time kills list at WSC with 1,525 moving past Rayna Nelsen Cain's 1,517 kills from 1999-2002. 
            Senior libero Brooke Peltz had 17 digs while Kusler led the 'Cats in service aces with three followed by freshman Anna Borner and Romano with two each.
            Wayne State now advances to the NSIC Volleyball Tournament semi-finals Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. in St. Cloud, Minnesota where the Wildcats face #2 seed and 8^th-ranked Concordia-St. Paul (22-5).