Freshman outside hitter Jaz DeHaan produced a career-high 22 kills to power No. 11 Wayne State in a 25-16, 25-18, 20-25, 25-17 win over Augustana Thursday evening at Rice Auditorium.
Wayne State never trailed in the opening set while hitting .462 as a team. The Wildcats jumped out to an 8-3 lead and were never threatened by the Vikings as DeHaan had six kills in the opening set.
Augustana stayed close with the Wildcats early in the second set but could not overcome eight kills by DeHaan as Wayne State pulled away. WSC trailed 10-9, but scored three straight points on kills from Taya Beller and Jaz DeHaan along with an Augustana attack error for a 12-10 lead that WSC would never relinquish.
The Vikings rallied in the third set and hit .417 with 18 kills as Augustana stayed alive in the match. Augustana took an early 7-3 lead and pushed the advantage to 11-6 forcing a Wildcat timeout. WSC never got closer than four points in the set despite four kills each from DeHaan and Brahmer and two service aces by junior Lauren Jacobsen.
Wayne State wasted little time regaining the momentum in the fourth set as the Wildcats scored the first five points. After Augustana closed within one at 7-6, WSC scored six of the next seven points to take control at 13-7 and the ‘Cats forced eight Viking errors in the set to win the match. DeHaan, Kelsie Cada and Brahmer each had four kills while Cada had 10 digs in the set for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats finished the match with a .299 hitting percentage while holding Augustana to a .159 clip. WSC held a 56-51 edge in kills over the Vikings and had four more digs 73-69. Wayne State also had a 9-5 advantage in blocks and 6-3 in service aces.
DeHaan’s career-high 22 kills paced Wayne State on the night. She had just three attack errors and hit .365 for the match. Brahmer followed with 13 kills and a .480 attack percentage while Cada recorded her seventh double-double with 10 kills and a career-best 24 digs.
Brahmer and Beller each recorded four blocks while setter Rachel Walker had 48 set assists. Jacobsen had half of Wayne State’s six service aces, a career-best night serving for the Wisner junior.
The Wildcats (18-4, 11-3 NSIC) will be on the road Saturday afternoon visiting No. 13 Southwest Minnesota State for a 1 p.m. NSIC contest.
