The top-ranked Wayne State volleyball team took care of business on Tuesday night, strengthening their case for the Northern Sun Conference regular-season title Tuesday with a 25-16, 25-21, 25-18 sweep of No. 6-ranked Southwest Minnesota State at Rice Auditorium.
The win improved the Wildcats to 24-1 overall and 15-0 in the conference with three games left to play, and did it with a solid defensive effort that included 13 blocks and limited the Mustangs to a .087 hitting percentage.
The first set was a tight one before Wayne State pulled away from a 15-14 lead by scoring 10 of the last 12 points. Kelsie Cada got the rally going with three straight kills to force a SWMSU timeout, then added another before Rachel Walker added a service ace. Wayne State scored the final five points to take the set, led by Maggie Brahmer’s six kills on seven attacks while Cada and Taya Beller each had four.
Wayne State used another run in the second set to take the 2-0 advantage, going on a 6-1 run to turn a 13-12 lead into a 19-13 advantage. Southwest closed to within two at 23-21, but a kill by Beller and a combination block by Cada and Beller gave WSC a 2-0 lead.
Wayne State’s defense was ruthless in the final set, forcing 10 Southwest errors with five blocks to come back from a 15-14 deficit and complete the three-game sweep.
Wayne State hit .284 in the match, led by Beller’s 12 kills with a .458 hitting percentage. Cada added 12 kills and Walker had 32 assists.
Beller recorded a season-high eight blocks on defense. Jordan McCormick led the defense with 15 digs, Cada had 12, Havyn Heinz added 10 and Walker recorded eight.
Wayne State hits the road this weekend for games Friday at 5 p.m. at Minnesota Crookston and Saturday at Bemidji State starting at 4 p.m.
