WAYNE – As the stretch matches featuring six ranked opponents continued, the 11th ranked Wayne State College volleyball team put on a comeback for the home fans Tuesday night.
From Rice Auditorium, WSC opened a three-match homestand where #12 Southwest Minnesota State was in town.
After falling behind Saturday at top 25 Upper Iowa in the opening two sets and having to comeback and win the final three sets, Wayne State did it again on a week night.
The Mustangs took sets one and two by the scores of 25-21 and 25-22. Then following intermission, the ‘Cats took control in sets three and four (25-21, 25-14). In the fifth, the match was tight early but Wayne State pulled away to win 15-10.
Head coach Scott Kneifl said he saw a lot of fight from his team.
“In-between two and three we just really talked about how we needed more production out of our pin hitters,” said Kneifl. “Our middles were doing fine on the scoreboard, but our pin hitters were having a rough time. We asked them to step up and they really did.”
Wayne State College has now won three straight to sit 16-2 (7-2 NSIC) while SMSU fell to 11-6 (5-4 NSIC).
Tarrin Beller recorded a team-high 16 kills to go along with seven blocks followed by Jaci Brahmer and Katie Stephens each with 11 kills. Haley Kauth posted 16 digs, Hope Carter added 13 and Kelsie Cada tallied 11 digs for WSC. Rachel Walker totaled 45 set assists. Maddie Duffy, Kauth and Carter all finished with two service aces a piece.
Wayne State outhit the Mustangs, .284 to .153 and won the block battle (9-4) but it was SMSU holding an edge in the ace department (9-6) as both teams had 11 service errors.
Seniors #1 (Libero) Haley Kauth and (#4 Middle Hitter) Tarrin Beller added the victory came from their grit at the end in Upper Iowa and Tuesday night as well as believing in each other.
“We were a little flat to start with in both the games and then we started finding our groove and then we just felt unstoppable and ourselves and came together,” Kauth added. “As a team we knew that we could do it and knowing that we’re playing a good team we all just needed to step up that little bit and we all did our jobs and came home with a win,” said Beller.
After concentrating on the victory over SMSU, coach Kneifl mentioned it’s onto the next match.
“St. Cloud and Duluth are both really good opponents,” Kneifl mentioned. “Obviously, top 10. It’s going to be a dog fight and I’m glad we’re at home instead of on a bus and hopefully the crowd will come out and give us some support and we’ll get going with it.”
#11 Wayne State College will host #7 Minnesota Duluth Friday at 6 p.m. before #8 St. Cloud State is in town Saturday at 4 p.m.