Third-ranked Southwest Minnesota State rallied from a one-set deficit to defeat No. 8-ranked Wayne State College 23-25, 25-20, 25-13, 25-19 in the opening round of the NCAA Central Regional Volleyball Tournament at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn.
The Mustangs and Wildcats battled back and forth early and were tied at 5-5 until the Mustangs scored six of the next seven points to force a Wayne State timeout as Southwest built an 11-6 lead. The Wildcats still trailed 16-10 in the first set when they stormed back and gained momentum late in the set to claim the first set.
Trailing 18-13, Wayne State scored five straight points, highlighted by a pair of Wildcat blocks, to even the score at 18-18. The Wildcats took the lead at 21-20 following a Megan Gebhardt kill and pushed the lead to 24-21. After Southwest fended off two straight set points, the Wildcats closed out the set with a Michaela Mestl kill to capture the opening set.
Wayne State used the first set momentum and held the lead for a majority of the second set until Southwest got hot at the end of the second set to take control of the match.
With the score tied at 7-7, the Wildcats forced a Mustangs timeout following an Alyssa Frauendorfer kill giving the Wildcats a 15-10 advantage.
Wayne State still led 19-15 in the second set when the Mustangs scored nine straight points with six coming on kills from Taylor Reiss that gave the Mustangs a 24-19 lead as Southwest went on to finish the second set and tie the match.
The Wildcats held the advantage early again in the third set until another Mustang run gave Southwest control of the set. Wayne State took its biggest lead of the set at 9-6 on a Tarrin Beller kill, but Southwest produced seven of the next eight points to take the lead for good at 13-10 and the Mustangs cruised to the third-set win.
Southwest led from start to finish in the fourth set, although Wayne State stayed close until late as the Mustangs closed out the 3-1 win to end Wayne State’s season. The Wildcats got within two at 15-13 after an Erin Gross kill, but Southwest countered by scoring five of the next six points to take a 20-14 lead and they went on to the win.
Wayne State hit .174 in the match with 43 kills and 17 errors on 149 attempts while Southwest posted a .354 attack percentage with 72 kills and just 15 errors on 161 attacks. SMSU held a 68-41 advantage in digs and had an 8-5 edge in blocks on the Wildcats. Southwest had five service aces and 13 errors while Wayne State had three aces and two errors.
Frauendorfer led Wayne State with 12 kills, making her the ninth player in school history to surpass 1,400 career kills with 1,411. Mestl and Erin Gross each added 10 kills for the Wildcats. Mestl finished with a team-high 22 digs, moving into fourth place on the all-time digs list at Wayne State with 1,894. Libero Haley Kauth and Tarrin Beller each recorded 13 digs while setter Megan Gebhardt handed out 39 set assists.
The Wildcats ended the season with a 24-8 record. It was the final match for three Wildcat seniors – Frauendorfer, Mestl and Alex Opperman.
