The Wayne State College beach volleyball team kicked off the 2024 season in Lincoln, going 1-1 in a pair of matches Lincoln on Monday, Feb. 26.
Weather patterns in the Lincoln area led to the match, which was originally slated to play on Wednesday, Feb. 28, to be moved to Monday.
“It’s one of those things where if you can play outside in February in Nebraska, you want to do it,” Head Coach Scott Kneifl said. “Monday was fantastic when you look at the weather. It was a little breezy, but still really nice.”
The first matchup was a late edition to the Wildcat schedule, as the Ottawa University Braves made the trip to Lincoln from Overland Park, Kansas to play WSC. The Wildcats played the Braves three times last season, securing 5-0 wins in every meeting.
This meeting was no different, as the Wildcats swept the Braves yet again. The first Wildcat victory came from the number five pairing of Taylor Bunjer and newcomer to the Wildcat volleyball program, a transfer from Nebraska-Kearney in Rhianna Wilhelm. They won the opening match 21-16, 21-14 to get the Wildcats off and running. The number three pairing of Ella Myler and Brooke Peltz picked up win number two with a 21-8, 21-16 victory. Pairing number four consisted of two new faces to the program. Brooklyn Kusler, a transfer from Southwest Minnesota State, and Molly Romano, a freshman early enrollee, got a fight from the Braves pairing, but came out on top 21-17, 21-19. The top duo of Taya Beller and Allie Petry dominated in their 21-5, 21-8 victory, and the second pairing of Jordan McCormick and Channatee Robles completed the sweep 21-8, 21-19.
The second matchup of the day was the highlight matchup, as the Wildcats took on the formidable Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Wildcats fought well with the Cornhuskers, but ultimately lost the first four matches. Bunjer and Wilhelm in the five pairing was able to force a third set against Andi Jackson and Olivia Mauch, but fell short 21-10, 15-21, 15-10. The third pairing of Myler and Peltz lost 21-14, 21-9 to Ally Batenhorst and Bergen Reilly and the fourth pairing of Kusler and Romano lost in straight sets as well 21-10, 21-11 to Merritt Beason and Skyler Pierce. The number two pairing of McCormick and Robles dropped straight sets to the Cornhuskers’ Lindsay Krause and Lexi Rodriguez 21-14, 21-14.
The Wildcats top pairing of Beller and Petry battled it out with Harper Murray and Laney Choboy. After the first set went the way of the Husker’s pairing 21-13, the second set was won by WSC 21-15. The third set saw the WSC pairing thoroughly dismantle the Husker stars 15-3 and the Wildcats took home a victory in the match.
“We fell behind in that first set, but Taya and Allie did a nice job of fighting back in the second [set] and dominated in the third,” Kneifl said. “Some of the other matches, the scores didn’t look competitive, but they were. That’s all you can ask for your first time out.”
The Wildcat will dog their toes into the sand again in Mesa and Gilbert, Arizona from Monday, Mar. 4 to Thursday, Mar. 7 to take on some competition in the state of Arizona.
All information came from wscwildcats.com.
