Eighth-ranked Wayne State rallied from a two set deficit and a 12-7 deficit in the fifth set to surprise No. 2-ranked Minnesota Duluth Wednesday evening in the first round of the NSIC Volleyball Tournament at Romano Gymnasium in Duluth, Minn. Scores of the match were 20-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-20 and 15-13.
The first set featured 11 ties and four lead changes, but Duluth surged late to win the set. With the score tied at 18, the host Bulldogs reeled off five straight points to take a 23-18 lead to put away the Wildcats.
Wayne State took a quick lead in the second set, thanks to a pair of Michaela Mestl service aces, for a 5-1 lead. But Duluth rallied and took a 10-9 lead to force a Wildcat timeout. The final tie of the set came at 11. Wayne State was still within one at 19-18, but the Bulldogs scored five of the next six points to take the 2-0 advantage.
The third set saw the Wildcats step up their blocking at the net and gained momentum on the Bulldogs. With Wayne State leading 14-13, the Wildcats scored the next five points to take a 19-13 lead and the Wildcats never led Duluth get closer than three as Wayne State won the third set.
The two teams went back and forth in the fourth set until the Wildcats finished strong to force a fifth set. The set saw 10 tied and five lead changes. With the score tied at 13, Wayne State reeled off six of the next seven points for a 19-14 lead. After Duluth scored three straight to force a Wayne State timeout at 19-17, the Wildcats used a pair of Alex Opperman kills, a Tarrin Beller kill, a pair of Bulldog attack errors and a kill from Alyssa Frauendorfer, her sixth of the set, to finish off the Bulldogs and force a fifth set.
The fifth set was close early until Duluth took charge midway through the set for leads of 9-4 and 12-7 before Wayne State staged a furious comeback.
Trailing 12-7 in the fifth set, Wayne State used a kills from Erin Gross and a UMD attack error to force a Bulldog timeout at 12-9. The Wildcats used a pair of Mestl service aces and another kill from Gross to knot the set at 12-12. A block by Beller and Opperman put Wayne State in front 13-12 followed by another ace from Mestl giving WSC match point at 14-12.
Duluth stayed alive with a kill from Taylor Wissbroecker to make the score 14-13, but Wayne State got match point with a kill from Gross, her third in the fifth set, to give Wayne State the dramatic comeback victory.
The Wildcats finished the match with a .180 attack percentage, recording 58 kills with 25 errors on 183 attacks while Duluth hit .211 with 65 kills and 25 errors on 190 attempts. Wayne State held a 91-88 edge in digs and had 11 service aces in the win while forcing nine Duluth service errors. The Bulldogs had a 12-9 advantage in blocks.
Frauendorfer led Wayne State with 19 kills and five blocks followed by Mestl with 11 kills, 32 digs and seven service aces. Gross also had 11 kills with two blocks for the Wildcats. Setter Megan Gebhardt handed out 50 set assists with 10 digs to go with four blocks while libero Haley Kauth added 20 digs with Katie Stephens producing 13 digs.
Wayne State (24-6) now advances to the NSIC Tournament semifinals on Saturday in St. Paul, Minnesota where the Wildcats face No. 2 seed and fourth-ranked Southwest Minnesota State at 12 p.m. The winner advances to Sunday’s finals against the winner of the matchup between top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Concordia-St. Paul and fifth-seeded and sixth-ranked Winona State.
