Senior Alyssa Frauendorfer matched a season-high with 16 kills while junior Erin Gross added 14 to lead eighth-ranked Wayne State in a 25-15, 20-25, 25-13, 25-23 win Friday evening at Minnesota Crookston.
The opening set was controlled by the Wildcats as they recorded 13 kills and just two attack errors while forcing the Golden Eagles into eight attack errors and a .098 attack percentage. The Golden Eagles reversed things in the second set, hitting .379 with 13 kills and just two errors on 29 attacks while Wayne State was limited to 12 kills with six errors.
Wayne State came out of the intermission and posted a match-high 17 kills in the third set while holding Crookston to just seven to go with five attack errors. The fourth set was a battle as Wayne State had to rally to complete the match. The Wildcats trailed early 4-0 and 9-4 and fought back to even the set at 13-13 on a kill by Mariah Halvorsen. Crookston came back and led 21-19 until Wayne State scored four straight points and took a 23-21 lead on another Halvorsen kill. The two teams traded points to close out the set and Frauendorfer closed out the match with a kill for the 3-1 win.
Wayne State hit .234 in the match compared to Minnesota Crookston’s .193. The Wildcats had 55 kills on 145 attacks with 21 errors while Crookston recorded 44 kills on 135 attempts with 18 errors. Wayne State held a 61-58 edge in digs over Crookston and while the Golden Eagles had an 8-0 advantage in blocks. The Wildcats had five service aces and five service errors while the Golden Eagles notched three service aces and had 14 service errors.
Frauendorfer paced the Wildcats in hitting with 16 kills, matching a season-high, to go with a .556 attack percentage. She had just one error in 27 attempts. Gross followed with 14 kills while Alex Opperman added eight. Michaela Mestl led Wayne State in digs with 21 with libero Haley Kauth finishing with 11. Megan Gebhardt recorded her fifth double-double of the year with a season-high 45 set assists and 11 digs.
Wayne State (18-6, 9-6 NSIC) will be on the road again Saturday, visiting Bemidji State in a 4 p.m. contest.
