The Wayne State College women’s volleyball team received the number two overall seed in the Central Region for the 2023 NCAA Division II tournament and will open tournament play against a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe, the seven seed Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.
This will mark the second meeting between the two programs this season. The only regular season meeting was back on Saturday, Sept. 30 in Duluth, Minn. The Wildcats claimed victory in that matchup, winning in three straight sets 25-19, 25-17 and 25-22.
WSC enters the regional tournament 28-2 on the season with a 19-1 mark in NSIC play. That latter record is including the conference tournament, in which the Wildcats fell short in a five-set thriller to the St. Cloud State Huskies in the NSIC tournament semifinals. The Bulldogs enter the tournament with an 18-10 overall record and an 11-9 record in NSIC play, including the conference tournament, where they also bowed out in the semifinals to the Concordia St. Paul Golden Bears in five sets.
The Wildcats are led by four all NSIC first-team performers. A trio of attackers leads the powerhouse offense for WSC. Junior middle hitter Maggie Brahmer is ninth in the country in hitting percentage with a mark of .414. Brahmer has 354 kills on the year, averaging 3.47 kills per set.
Senior outside hitter Kelsie Cada and junior middle hitter Taya Beller make up one of the best duos of power hitters in the nation. Beller is 14th in the nation in hitting percentage with a .393. She leads the team with 360 kills, averaging 3.53 kills per set. Cada is hitting .314 on the year, with a total of 349 kills and 3.42 kills per set. She also leads the team in service aces with 43.
Those three attackers, Beller, Brahmer and Cada, also got recognized with D2CCA Central All-Region honors. Beller and Brahmer made the first team list, just as they did last season, and Cada was named a second team performer, also repeating the same accomplishment last season.
Senior setter Rachel Walker enters the national tournament with 1,076 total assists and 10.98 assists per set on the year. She also is second on the team in service aces with 26. As a team, the Wildcats are second in the nation in team hitting percentage, hitting a staggering .318 on the season.
Defensively, WSC is one of the best in the country at defending the net. The team is 11th in the nation with 2.46 blocks per set. Beller and Brahmer are both in triple digits in the block department. Beller leads the team with 113 total blocks and Brahmer is close behind with 108 blocks. The Wildcats only allow opponents to hit .167 on the season.
The Wildcats are getting a tough matchup with the Bulldogs, who have some All-NSIC performers of their own. The lone first-team selection for Duluth was senior outside hitter Cianna Selbitschka. She is hitting .237 on the year and leads the Bulldogs with 389 kills, averaging 3.85 kills per set. The Bulldogs have five other players with at least 100 kills on the year. The team hits only .224, but they limit opponents’ offensive output, only allowing teams to hit .169.
The Wildcats and Bulldogs are set to face off in St. Paul, Minn. in the Gangelhoff Center in the first round of the Central Region tournament on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 2:30 p.m. The winner will face the winner of the three versus six matchup between the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs and the Nebraska-Kearney Lopers.
The Regional tournament is hosted by top seed in the region, and the NSIC tournament champions, the Concordia St. Paul Golden Bears. They will be facing the eight seed Oklahoma Baptist Bison, champions of the Great American Conference. The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion Central Missouri Jennies earned the four seed, and they will matchup up with the five seed and NSIC runner-up St. Cloud State Huskies.
