The 15th ranked Wayne State volleyball team ended the regular season in fine fashion, sweeping Minnesota Duluth 26-24, 25-17 and 25-17 Saturday afternoon in the NSIC regular-season finale for both teams Saturday afternoon at Rice Auditorium.
Wayne State led the entire first set with narrow margins. The Wildcats allowed only four tie scores in the first set and with the score tied up at 24-24 WSC used two consecutive points and won the first set on a kill from Maggie Brahmer, who led the ‘Cats with four kills and no errors in the set.
The Wildcats jumped out to an 11-5 lead early in the second frame that forced a Bulldog timeout. WSC allowed Minnesota Duluth to only get within four points the remainder of the set to take the 2-0 advantage. Taya Beller finished the set for WSC with a kill, one of her team-leading five in the set.
The two teams exchanged points early in the third set but with the score at 4-4 WSC took the lead for good and won the final set on a kill from Elly Larson. Beller had five kills and three blocks to lead WSC in the final frame.
The ‘Cats outhit Minnesota Duluth .315-.210 in the match and had six more kills 47-41. WSC had an advantage in digs over the Bulldogs 48-44 and had five more blocks in the contest 7-2. The ‘Cats held a slight advantage in service aces 4-3 over UMD.
Beller led WSC with 12 kills and four blocks while Kelsie Cada added nine kills and three blocks to go along with her team-high 15 digs for the ‘Cats. Sophomore setter Rachel Walker had 38 set assists for WSC.
Playing in her final match in Rice Auditorium, defensive specialist Lauren Jacobsen had 12 digs in the contest for Wayne State.
The Wildcats (21-7, 14-6 NSIC) will compete Thursday at the 2021 NSIC Volleyball Tournament at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
