‘Cats beat Warriors, Peacocks, fall to Bulldogs

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Elijah Boose, Staff Writer

The Wayne State volleyball team continues to roll as the Wildcats are now 17-3 on the season.

Wayne State hit the road against #19 Winona State and came out on fire winning the first set 25-18. But then, Winona came out very strong in the second set, finishing it off at 19-25.

The Wildcats got the job done in the third set 25-16 then won the fourth set 25-16. With that win it put them at 14-2 for the season and 5-2 in the NSIC.

The ‘Cats took control of the match with a dominant third set recording eight blocks to go with three service aces as the Wildcats had cruised to a 25-16 set win. Wayne State finished the match hitting .303 with 52 kills on 132 attacks and just 12 errors while holding Winona State to a .160 hitting percentage with 54 kills, 30 errors and 150 attempts.

Beller paced Wayne State with 15 kills, hitting .483 in the match. She also had six blocks to lead the Wildcats. Katie Stephens followed with 12 kills as Kelsie Cada finished with 10 kills.

The Wildcats faced #18 Upper Iowa Oct. 12 at Upper Iowa. The Wildcats came back from losing the first two sets 22-25 and 17-25 to rally back and win 25-23 25-21 to win the last set 15-8 to beat the Peacocks 3-2.

Stephens led WSC in kills with 18, 15 of them in the final three sets. Tarrin Beller added 15 kills while Alyssa Ballenger contributed 10 in 3 sets. Jaci Brahmer had eight kills and led the Wildcats in blocks with eight while Maddie Knobbe had five.

The #11 Wildcats rallied again to beat #12 Southwest Minnesota State.

It was the second straight match Wayne State had to rally back from a two-set deficit to win against a top 20 NSIC team. With those wins, WSC improved to 16-2 on the season and 7-2 in NSIC.

Senior libero Haley Kauth recorded 16 digs with Hope Carter added 13 and Cada produced 11. Kauth, Carter and Duffy each had two service aces. Redshirt freshman setter Rachel Walker recorded 45 set assists in the win.

The Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs came out on top against the Wildcats, beating them 3-2 as the sets were 25-18, 24-26, 21-25, 25-14, 15-11.

Wayne State swept St. Cloud State 3-0.

Cada recorded team high 12 kills while the Wildcats went on to sweep St. Cloud State 25-20, 25-22, 25-19.

Cada paced the Wildcats with 12 kills followed by Beller with nine and Brahmer with eight. Brahmer had six blocks with Beller and Rachel Walker adding five apiece.

Walker handed out 29 set assists while Kauth notched 17 digs with Duffy adding 15 to go with two service aces.

“This past weekend was a true test of our abilities,” junior Alyssa Ballenger said. “Our game against Duluth was a game we wish we could’ve won but it slipped away from us. They’re a great team and it would’ve been a great game to win. It was great for us to bounce back and sweep St. Cloud in three.”

“We have had a successful season so far,” Kauth said. “Our conference is filled with nationally ranked teams which makes every game a huge battle and great opportunity to get better. As the season progresses we aim to get better every day and focus on things we can control on our side of the net and trust in our training.”

The volleyball team will be back in action Oct. 25 against Minnesota Crookston at 6 p.m. in Minnesota. The Wildcats’ next home game is against USF Saturday Nov. 2 at 1 p.m.

Outside Hitter Kelsea Cada spikes the ball while the defense attempts to block.
Outside Hitter Katie Stephens spikes the ball while the defense attempts to block.
Jaci Brahmer and Maddie Knobbe prepare to block the ball while the rest of the team gets prepared for a short ball.