Wayne State College Volleyball broke open its season on a four-game win streak. Traveling to Joplin, Missouri, the Wildcats spent their weekend competing in the Missouri Southern Tournament.

After a successful weekend on the court, the Wildcats are hopeful for the up-and-coming season.

“I have high expectations for this season,” junior Morgan Alexander said. “This is probably the most excited I’ve been about a season just because of the amount of potential we have.”

The Wildcats first serve of the season was against Cameron University, going 3-0. The ’Cats earned a .388 percentage hitting game. Junior Maddie Knobbe and freshman Kelsie Cada combined for a .466 attack percentage.

Their second match up and sweep was against Southwestern Oklahoma State. Junior Hope Carter had seven service aces and 16 digs. Cada and junior Tarrin Beller had nine kills along with three aces to add to their second win.

Against Black Hills State, Wayne State performed its third and final sweep of the weekend, forcing the Yellow Jackets to drop their record to 1-2.

After trailing in the first set, Alexander and Cada had serving streaks taking the lead at 12-6, setting the ‘Cats up to get the win.

Wayne State’s first set loss came from Colorado State University-Pueblo. However, the Wildcats pushed to get the overall win with scores of: 25-16, 25-12, 23-25, 25-19.

“They still had that fight and desire to keep pushing and putting that pressure on us and I believe that was the reason why we lost the third set,” Carter said. “We had to refocus and play loose because that’s when we play best, and fortunately we pulled off the win.”

Beller totaled six blocks and 17 kills, adding to the record match-high of 19 kills within the first set.

There were notable performances from a variety of players on the Wildcat roster that helped gain the undefeated weekend.

“We feel like we are deep,” head coach Scott Kneifl said. “We can put a variety of line ups on the floor on any given night and be very successful.”

Wayne State is set to play Belmont Abbey College on Sept. 13 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

They plan on to continue to make strides for their hopeful season by focusing on their mental game and capitalizing on their talents.

“We focused a lot on us and what we can control,” Alexander said. “Coach always says, ‘the game of volleyball is about who can control the chaos best.’ We focus on controlling what we can control on our side of the net and trust in our training.”