After sleepwalking through the first two sets, the 15th ranked Wayne State volleyball team came to life and nearly put away seventh-ranked Concordia-St. Paul before the visiting Golden Bears bounced back late to win a five-set thriller, 25-17, 25-12, 23-25, 19-25, 25-10 at Rice Auditorium.
The visiting Golden Bears domiinated the first two sets, limiting Wayne State to six kills in the first set and hitting at a blistering .378 clip with 16 kills to take a two-set advantage.
The Golden Bears looked ready to complete the three-game blitzkrieg, but the Wildcats rallied from a 20-15 deficit in the third set, using a Jaci Brahmer kill and a Bulldog attack error to tie the game at 23-23. Maddie Knobbe and Tarrin Beller combined for a block and the Golden Bears erred on the next point to give Wayne State the third-set win.
Wayne State carried that advantage into the fourth set, jumping out to a 5-1 lead early and leading by as many as 13-6 midway through the set. Concordia-St. Paul got as close as three, but Wayne State committed just one error in the set and were able to force a final set.
Wayne State still had the momentum early in the fifth set, building a 4-1 lead before a Golden Bear timeout seemed to right the visitors’ ship. They came back to score the next four points, and the teams went back and forth before the Golden Bears scored five consecutive points to lead 13-8 and never trailed again.
Concordia-St. Paul held a .218 to .176 advantage in hitting over Wayne State. The Golden Bears had 71 kills on 29 errors while WSC had 43 kills with 13 attack errors. The Golden Bears held a 10-4 edge in service aces over the Wildcats while Wayne had two more blocks, 9-7.
Katie Stephens led Wayne State with 12 kills followed by Alyssa Ballenger with 10. Beller recorded six blocks for the Wildcats. Hope Carter notched 24 digs and had three of Wayne State’s four aces in the match. Rachel Walker had 18 digs and 32 set assists. Haley Kauth posted 15 digs with Morgan Alexander adding 11.
The Wildcats (13-2, 4-2 NSIC) will be on the road next weekend, playing at Winona State Friday at 6 p.m. and No. 22 Upper Iowa Saturday at 2 p.m.
