#2 Wayne State College hit .353 using a balanced attack with three Wildcats posting 10 or more kills in a 25-21, 25-15, 25-22 sweep over Wheeling (W.Va.) Friday evening at the Colorado Premier Volleyball Challenge in Denver, Colorado. WSC is now 5-1 on the season while the Cardinals drop to 1-5.
The first set accounted for eight ties and four lead changes as WSC built a six-point lead then held back a Wheeling rally for a 25-22 win.
Tied at 8-8, WSC scored six of the next seven points to take a 14-9 lead and used an ace from freshman setter
Molly Romano for their biggest lead of the opening set at 17-11. Wheeling battled back and closed within two at 18-16 and 22-20, but the 'Cats got a kill from
Channatee Robles, service ace by
Taya Beller and another Robles kill to close out the first set 25-22.
Beller and Robles each had five kills to lead WSC in the opening set as four different Wildcats had service aces.
The second set was all WSC as the 'Cats hit .515 with 17 kills and no errors as Wayne State cruised to a 25-14 set victory. Beller had five kills and two solo blocks for WSC followed by
Brooklyn Kusler and Robles with four kills each.
Wayne State completed the sweep in the third set as the 'Cats broke open a tight set scoring six straight points to down the Cardinals 25-22.
With WSC trailing 14-13, Kusler served five straight points following a Wheeling service error highlighted by three Robles kills to put the 'Cats ahead for good at 19-14. The Cardinals got within two at 24-22, but a Kusler kill to end the match gave WSC the 25-22 third set win.
Wayne State hit .353 in the match with 54 kills and just 13 errors on 116 attacks while Wheeling posted a .220 hitting percentage with 34 kills on 100 swings. The 'Cats held a 48-41 advantage in digs and 5-3 in service aces while Wheeling held a 6-3 edge in blocks.
Robles had 15 kills with a .433 attack percentage to lead WSC followed by Kusler with 15 kills. Beller added 13 kills and had a team-high four blocks (three solo). Senior libero
Brooke Peltz produced 14 digs while freshman setter
Molly Romano had 48 assists.
Wayne State plays two more matches Saturday at the Colorado Premier Challenge with the first contest starting at 12:30 p.m. Central Time against an opponent to be determined later Friday evening.