Volleyball: Better than coming home 0-2

Joseph Lovercheck, Staff Writer

The tenth-ranked Wayne State College volleyball team traveled to Minnesota for a pair of North­ern Sun Conference matchups. The Wildcats finished 1-1 on the weekend.

“We played two tough opponents this weekend, and coming home with a split is better than coming home 0-2.” Coach Scott Kneifl said.

On Friday the WSC Wildcats beat the Minnesota State Mavericks 3-1. The Wildcats dropped the first set 27-25. After that WSC put the hammer down and won the next three sets 25-17, 25-13, 25-20. The Wildcats were led in kills by Katie Hughes with 17. Leisa McClintock led the team with 50 assists while Courtney VanGroningen had 27 digs.

On Saturday WSC traveled to St. Paul Minn. to take on third-ranked Concordia-St. Paul (C-SP.) Unfortu­nately the Wildcats fell 3-1, but they forced C-SP to extra points in two of the three sets that WSC lost. The Wildcats won the first set 17-25. After that WSC just couldn’t finish, losing the final three sets 27-25, 28-26, 25-16. Hughes led the team again in kills with 15 kills while Mc­Clintock had 46 kills. Vangroningen had 20 digs.

“We will definitely be battle tested,” Kneifl said. “We’re playing a bunch of top 25 teams, and even the teams that aren’t in the top 25 have a chance to be.”

The Wildcats will continue their season Friday at 7 p.m. when they start Homecoming weekend against Bemidji State and then take on Min­nesota Crookston on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Wildcats are now 12-3 overall and 5-2 in NSIC play.