#2 Wayne State used a .394 hitting percentage and had four players with nine or more kills as the Wildcats posted a 25-19, 25-18, 25-15 Northern Sun Conference volleyball victory at Minnesota Crookston Saturday afternoon. WSC moves to 24-1 and stays unbeaten in the NSIC with a 15-0 league mark while the host Golden Eagles drop to 3-20 and 1-14 in conference play.
Minnesota Crookston battled the Wildcats tough in the first set, holding a 12-9 lead. UMC was still in front 14-12 when WSC battled back to knot the score at 15-15 on a
Mia Berg kill.
The final tie of the set came at 17-17 and the 'Cats used a UMC service error and back-to-back kills from
Chloe Hanel to take the lead for good at 20-17 and finished with a 25-19 first set victory.
Hanel had six kills with
Delaney Miller adding five to pace the Wildcats in the opening set.
Wayne State jumped out to an early 6-2 advantage in the second set and never trailed in recording a 25-18 win.
The 'Cats had 15 kills and hit .387 in the set as Miller had the hot hand in the set with seven kills and no errors on just nine swings while Berg added four kills
The third set saw all 15 Wildcat players see the court as WSC hit .406 with 14 kills and just one error while forcing Minnesota Crookston into eight errors as Wayne State completed the sweep with a 25-15 win.
Hanel accounted for five kills in the final set with
Channatee Robles and Berg collecting four and three respectively.
Wayne State finished the match hitting .394 with 46 kills, seven errors and 99 attacks while Minnesota Crookston had a .202 percentage with 36 kills, 16 errors and 99 attacks. The 'Cats held a 45-40 edge in digs while being out-blocked 4-3.
Miller ended with a match-high 13 kills followed by Hanel with 12 and Robles and Berg with nine apiece. Junior libero
Anna Borner and
Mattie Kamery each had nine digs while Kamery had both WSC service aces in the win. Junior setter
Molly Romano recorded 37 set assists.
The Wildcats return home to the friendly confines of Rice Arena for three home matches next week, starting Tuesday evening with the annual Black Out/Pack the House Night match vs. #10 Southwest Minnesota State at 6 p.m.
