No. 13-ranked Wayne State College forced 24 attack errors and improved to 6-3 against teams ranked in the AVCA Div. II Top 25 Tuesday evening as the Wildcats notched a rare sweep at No. 6 Concordia-St. Paul by scores of 25-22, 25-19 and 25-23.
The Wildcats never trailed in the first set, but held off the Golden Bears to take the 1-0 lead. Wayne State built early leads of 14-7 and 21-15, but the Golden Bears closed within two at 23-21 and 24-22 before a kill from Tarrin Beller clinched the opening set. Kelsie Cada had five kills for the Wildcats followed by Beller with four and two blocks.
The second set saw the Wildcats lead from start to finish again, opening with an 11-5 and leading by as many as 10 at 16-6 before Concordia-St. Paul came back and closed within two at 21-19 to force a Wildcat timeout. Wayne State closed the set scoring the final four points on a Golden Bear service error, a kill from Cada and two Golden Bear attack errors that included a block by Maddie Knobbe and Jaci Brahmer. Cada had three kills while Brahmer added two kills and four blocks in the set.
The host Golden Bears led for most of the third set until the Wildcats rallied late to complete the sweep. Concordia-St. Paul took an early 6-2 lead to force Wayne State’s first timeout. The Golden Bears still led 10-6 and 15-12 before Wayne State rallied and took their first lead of the set at 18-17. With the score tied at 18-18, the Wildcats used a Cada kill and forced two Golden Bear errors to take a 21-18 lead and went on to finish off the three-game sweep, marking the first time since 2015 that Concordia-St. Paul had been swept at home. In that game, Wayne State swept the Golden Bears on their home floor to win the Central Region championship and advance to the Elite Eight.
Cada paced Wayne State with her fifth double-double of the year, recording 11 kills and 16 digs. Beller added 10 kills with Brahmer and Alyssa Ballenger finishing with seven each. Brahmer led Wayne State in blocks with six followed by Maddie Knobbe with four.
Libero Haley Kauth had 12 digs with Maddie Duffy adding 11. Rachel Walker also had a double-double, handing out 34 set assists with 11 digs.
Wayne State (23-5) will close out the regular season at home this weekend, entertaining MSU Moorhead Friday night at 6 p.m. and No. 7 Northern State Saturday in a 4 p.m. contest.
