The No. 17-ranked Wayne State women’s volleyball team kicked off the 2022 campaign on the right note with two easy wins in action at Garden City, N.Y.
In the first match of the day, the Wildcats forced 22 attack errors to easily handle host Adelphi, 25-23, 25-21, 25-15.
Wayne State trailed early in the first set before winning a tight opener and going on to the three-set win.
Adelphi came back several times and tied the first set for the final time at 22-all before a Taya Bellar termination and two Adelphi attack errors ended the opening set.
It was tight again in the second set with three lead changes and 13 ties. Wayne State trailed 2-0 early and 11-9 later in the set before rebounding. Bellar and Taylor Bunjar combined for a key block to make it 22-20 and Wayne State went on to take the two-set advantage.
In the final set, Wayne State used an 8-1 run to build a 14-7 advantage and were never threatened again. Kelsie Cada had five of her 13 kills in the final set and hit at a .250 clip.
Bellar led the Wildcats with 16 kills and hit .652 for the match, followed by Cada’s 13 kills. Havyn Heinz led the defense with 16 digs, Cada added 13 and Jessie Brandl picked up 12. Maggie Brahmer recorded seven blocks.
In the second match of the day, Wayne State hit at a .369 percentage and cruised to a 25-16, 25-14, 25-11 win over Bridgeport University.
Wayne State got off to fast starts in all three sets and rolled to the win. Wayne State hit at a .424 percentage in the first set, led by Taylor Bunjer’s five kills. Jordan McCormick and Isabelle Vacek both had three kills to lead the way in the second set, and the team hit .328 to breeze through the final set.
Brahmer led the way with 10 kills and hit .714 in the match. Brandl had a team-best 14 digs, Cada added 13 and Rachel Walker had 12.
Wayne State will be in action in a pair of games on Friday, facing Nyack College at 1 p.m. and Molloy College at 3 p.m. in Rockville Centre, New York.
