Wildcats moved up in the AVCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll from ranking tenth in the nation to ninth after sweeping and outscoring their opponents 225-140 this past weekend.

 
WSC faced off against the Bemidji State Beavers on Friday night and had a slow start in the first set of the match, where the team allowed Bemidji gain a lead of 17-10. The ‘Cats rallied to catch up, with Alyssa Frauendorfer tying the score to 18 after serving seven straight points.
It wasn’t until the teams tied at 20-20 when WSC pulled ahead, using four kills from Elizabeth Gebhardt and a BSU service error to win the set at 25-22.

 
“After that, it really seemed like we settled into a groove,” head coach Scott Kneifl said.

 
The Wildcats continued to take the lead for the rest of the game, posting 13 kills and holding the Beavers to only five kills in the second set, while in the final set the team had 19 kills and kept BSU to 12 kill.

 
The individual set scores were 25-22, 25-11 and 25-17.

 
Gebhardt lead the team in kills (12) with Leisa McClintock leading in assists (40) and Katie Hughes in digs (21).

 
Frauendorfer continued her outstanding weekend against Minnesota Crookston in the Wildcats Saturday Homecoming game, breaking her personal record of 12 kills in a match, while also hitting .647.

 
Although WSC hit only .227 in the first set, with 44 attacks and 14 kills, three service aces from junior Michaela Mestl and another ace serve from Hughes helped pull the Wildcats ahead to win the first set 25-15.

 
UMC was held in the second set to a .000 attack percentage with six errors and only six kills, as WSC had four kills and three service aces to grab a 25-12 win. The third set finalized the sweep as the Wildcats had 17 kills, five coming from junior middle hitter Alex Opperman, allowing them to finish the set 25-15. WSC won all three sets by ten points or more.

 
The team was led in kills by Frauendorfer (12), while McClintock had 35 assists. Mestl and Courtney VanGroningen were tied in the lead in digs with 15.

 
Last night, WSC played a non-conference game against William Jewel College, a private, liberal arts college from Liberty, Mo., where the Wildcats again swept the competition 3-0. The final scores of each set were 25-14, 25-18 and 25-16.

 
The Wildcats are now 15-3 overall and hold a 7-2 NSIC record.

 
“We’ve really been concentrating lately on playing a faceless opponent,” Kneifl said. “We don’t look on the other side of the net as a lot of people like to think. We really feel like if we take care of business on our side of the net, and do what we’re supposed to do, that good things will happen.”

 
On Friday the team will travel to St. Cloud, Minn. to take on St. Cloud State on Saturday, and will continue to travel to Duluth, for a matchup against the fifth ranked Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.