No. 21 Wayne State finished out their season falling to No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul 3-2 in the NSIC Tournament. The Wildcats finished the season 19-12 overall and 12-8 in NSIC conference play.

“I am so proud of how hard each person fought,” senior Erin Gross said. “Even though we came up short, we left it all out on the court.”

Wayne State trailed early in the first set 8-6. The Wildcats pulled away later for a 25-18 first set win. The first set was highlighted by three straight Wildcat blocks and a service ace by Maddie Duffy. Gross had six kills on seven attacks in the set while Jaci Brahmer and Katie Stephens each contributed three blocks.

Concordia bounced back in the second set with 17 kills to secure a 25-13 set win.

In the third set, Wayne State never trailed, winning the set 25-23. WSC closed the set with a kill from Tarring Beller. Gross led the wildcats in the set with four kills followed by Stephens and Brahmer with three kills each.

WSC took an early lead in the fourth set 9-5. Concordia used an impressive 20 kills in the set to fight back and win the fourth 25-20 to send the match into a fifth and final set.

Concordia-St. Paul led the whole fifth set, completing the set 15-12 and winning the match 3-2 over Wayne State. WSC recorded a .221 percentage on kills, 16 errors and 154 attacks on the match.

Senior Erin Gross led Wayne State in hitting with 17 kills and four blocks while sophomore Katie Stephens finished the atch with 13 kills nd 15 digs.

Junior setter Megan Gebhardt buted 46 set assists with 17 digs, while sophomore libero Haley Kauth was credited with a team best 19 digs.

Wayne State had two seniors in the 2017 season, Erin Gross and Bree Ackermann.