The Wayne State Beach Volleyball team has eight games under their belt, garnering five wins and three losses on the young season.
The Wildcats headed southwest to Arizona for six games from Monday, March 4 to Thursday, March 7. The six game took place in a trio of cities, including Mesa, Gilbert and Glendale. The first game during the stretch was against Benedictine University Mesa, where the Wildcats went on to win four matchs to one. The Wildcats dropped the first match, as the primary pairing of Taya Beller and Allie Petry were defeated by Benedictine’s Kylie Bartel and Annika Wallace 21-19, 21-15. The next four matches were won by the Wildcats.
The next opponent was a matchup against the Park University-Gilbert Buccaneers, which was the first of two matchups, as these teams went on to play later in the week. The Wildcats dropped a tough match in the second game, with the second pairing of Jordan McCormick and Channatee Robles losing 21-16, 21-10. However, the Wildcats took the four other matches in a 4-1 victory.
The Wildcats carried that momentum into the next game against Mesa Community College. Despite losing in the first match 2-0, the Wildcats once again pulled out a reverse sweep, winning 4-1. Each match was won in 2-0 fashion, and the exhibition match was won by WSC, with Jordie Nekl and Kaelyn Anderson coming out on top, 2-1.
Up next was the second game against Park Gilbert, proving to be tougher than the previous meeting. Railey Druxman and Daisy Motes of Park Gilbert defeated the WSC top pairing (Beller, Petry) in three sets, 21-12, 17-21, 15-13. The Buccaneers also defeated the duo of McCormick and Robles of WSC, 21-19 in both sets. Then, WSC won the remaining three matches in a 3-2 win.
The Wildcats faced the top ranked team in NAIA, the Ottawa University Arizona Spirit. This would be a very tough outing for the Wildcats, as OUAZ completely swept every match in 2-0 fashion.
To end the spring trip, the Wildcats would face the Firestorm of Arizona Christian University, who sat ranked third in NAIA. Beller and Petry fell in the first match, losing 21-17 in both sets to ACU’s Misty McCall and Mia Scheepens. The Wildcats took the next two matches, with McCormick and Robles winning in match two in three sets (13-21, 21-19, 16-14), and following them was another three-set win for WSC with Myler and Peltz beating ACU’s Eliana Cho and Railey Dykstra (12-21, 22-20, 15-7). The Wildcats fell in the next two matches and were also be defeated in a tough exhibition match.
The Wildcats will next face Ottawa University (KS) again on Tuesday, March 19 in game two of three against Ottawa this season.