Erin Gross recorded a career-high 14 kills to lead ninth-ranked Wayne State College in a 25-14, 25-19, 25-14 win at Upper Iowa Saturday afternoon.
The Wildcats never trailed in the first set as Tarrin Beller had four kills with five digs while libero Haley Kauth notched two service aces to lead Wayne State to the first-set win.
The second set was close early, tied at 11-11 before Wayne State reeled off six straight points to take a 17-11 lead and Mestl served up three aces to help the Wildcats win the set.
The Wildcats trailed for part of the third set until a red-hot Gross helped Wayne State rally. Down 13-11, Gross produced four straight kills to give Wayne State the lead for good. The Wildcats also used a block by Gross and Alex Opperman followed by a bad set and UIU attack error to take an 18-13 lead and the Wildcats rolled the rest of the way to complete the sweep.
Wayne State hit .229 in the match with 39 kills, 12 attack errors and 118 attempts while Upper Iowa was held to .139 on 33 kills, 17 errors and 115 attacks. The Wildcats had 10 service aces in the match with no errors while Upper Iowa held a 63-58 advantage in digs and 5-3 in blocks.
Gross was the lone Wildcat in double-digit kills with her career-high 14 followed by Beller and Alyssa Frauendorfer with seven apiece.
Mestl was one of three Wildcats in double figures on digs with 15 followed by Kauth with 13 and Beller 10. Kauth had four of Wayne State’s 10 service aces while Mestl added three. Megan Gebhardt was credited with 34 set assists.
The Wildcats (15-5, 6-5 NSIC) will be at home Tuesday night entertaining No. 6 Augustana in a 7 p.m. match at Rice Auditorium.
