No. 15-ranked Wayne State College picked up a couple of tough wins on the road over the weekend against ranked Northern Sun Conference foes.
On Friday, the Wildcats recorded 11 blocks and forced an opponent season-high in attack errors (30) to claim a 25-18, 19-25, 25-16, 25-16 win at No. 19 Winona State.
The Wildcats hit a sizzling .412 in the first set, as Tarrin Beller had the hot hand five kills on just seven attacks.
Winona State got back into the match in the second set, recording 17 kills and a .343 attack percentage to tie up the match. Beller and Kelsie Cada each had four kills to pace the Wildcats in the set.
Wayne State took control of the match from there, recording eight blocks to go with three service aces and 10 Winona State errors in the third set before finishing the match with effecient attacking and a strong defense in the fourth and final set.
Beller paced Wayne State with 15 kills, hitting .483 in the match. She also had six blocks to lead the Wildcats. Katie Stephens followed with 12 kills while hitting .440 and Kelsie Cada finished with 10 kills and a team-high 15 digs along with four blocks. Hope Carter produced 14 digs along with three service aces while libero Haley Kauth added 11 digs. Rachel Walker handed out 44 set assists.
Wayne State rallied from a two-set deficit on Saturday to come away with a 22-25, 17-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-8 win over No. 18 Upper Iowa.
Wayne State held an early 10-7 lead in the opening set, but the Peacocks reeled off seven straight points to grab a 14-10 lead. The Wildcats rallied again to lead 20-17, but the Peacocks came back one more time to claim the first-set victory.
Upper Iowa led from start to finish in the second set, hitting .375 with 19 kills as the Peacocks took a 2-0 lead into the break, and Wayne State was trailing 14-9 in the third set before responding with their comeback effort.
Katie Stephens rallied the Wildcats in the middle set by recording seven kills with Alyssa Ballenger adding five. That momentum carried into the fourth set as Tarrin Beller put up back-to-back aces to make it 11-4 and held off a late rally with a block by Stephens and Jaci Brehmer to force a winner-take-all fifth set.
It was all Wildcats in the finale as Wayne State held Upper Iowa to a minus-.095 attack percentage with six errors and just four kills while Stephens and Ballenger carried the Wildcats attack with five and three kills, respectively.
Stephens led Wayne State in kills with 18, 15 of them in the final three sets. Beller added 15 kills while Ballenger contributed 10 in just three sets of work. Brahmer had eight kills and led in blocks with eight while Maddie Knobbe had five. Kauth and Carter both accounted for 26 digs with Carter posting a career-high. Morgan Alexander had 14 digs in three sets of play. Walker was credited with 48 assists and 10 digs.
Wayne State (15-2, 6-2 NSIC) will be at home Tuesday evening, hosting No. 9 Southwest Minnesota State in a NSIC contest beginning at 6 p.m.
