Michaela Mestl recorded her eighth double-double of the year and moved into third place on the all-time service aces list at Wayne State with five more Tuesday evening to lead No. 8-ranked Wayne State College to a 28-26, 25-11, 25-18 nonconference win over Chadron State in the 11th-annual Black Out/Pack the House Night at Rice Auditorium.
The first set was a battle between the two clubs that featured 18 ties and eight lead changes. Chadron State hit a sizzling .432 in the set with 20 kills to stay with the Wildcats, who recorded 18 kills and a .444 attack percentage. Wayne State used kills from Alyssa Frauendorfer and Mestl to take a 24-23 lead. The two teams traded points and the score was tied at 26-26 until the Wildcats used a Mestl kill and Chadron State attack error to take the opening set.
Wayne State built an early 6-1 lead in the second set thanks to back-to-back service aces from Mestl and the Wildcats cruised to an easy second-set win, hitting .480 in the set with 15 kills and just three errors on 25 attacks. The third set was closer but Wayne State never trailed as the Wildcats completed the sweep.
Frauendorfer produced a team-high 11 kills to lead Wayne State while Mestl notched her eighth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 14 digs. She also had five service aces and moved into third place on the all-time aces list at Wayne State with 150, moving past Michelle Eckhardt’s 146 aces from 2003-06.
Mariah Halvorsen and Erin Gross each added nine kills to the Wildcat attack at the net. Setter Megan Gebhardt was credited with 39 set assists while libero Haley Kauth added 13 digs.
The Wildcats, 13-3, will be at home this weekend, hosting Minnesota State Friday at 7 p.m. and No. 2-ranked Concordia-St. Paul Saturday in a 4 p.m. contest in Rice Auditorium.
