WAYNE – A week-night NSIC volleyball match drew a crowd of 907 fans during the 13th annual Black Out/Pack The House Night.
From Rice Auditorium Tuesday evening, along with Wayne State College hosting Augustana University there were prizes and t-shirts given away.
WSC pulled away in the first set while Augie kept the final two sets close. The ‘Cats swept Augustana for the second time this season (25-16, 25-23, 25-20) to now sit 16-5 (8-4 NSIC) winning three straight matches and nine consecutive sets while the Vikings fell to 7-13 (2-10 NSIC).
Both teams rallied throughout the game. Wildcat volleyball head coach, Scott Kneifl said when you’re out of system you must hit shots.
“I mean, obviously if you go for it there’s a chance,” said Kneifl. “A small glimmer out of system that you’re going to score a point, but not very often. Teams were hitting shots tonight (Tuesday) and it was nice to win some of those long rallies.”
Sophomore Alyssa Ballenger paced WSC at the net with 15 kills and eight digs followed by junior Katie Stephens with 11 kills. Senior Megan Gebhardt stole the show with a double-double recording 32 set assists and 13 digs. Gebhardt also became the fifth Wildcat in program history to reach 3,000 career assists (3,001). Junior Haley Kauth posted a team-high 15 digs while sophomore Maddie Knobbe, sophomore Jaci Brahmer and junior Tarrin Beller (one solo) all had three blocks.
Ballenger and Stephens combined for 26 of the 45 team kills from the left-side. Ballenger talked about what she was seeing at the net from her career-high performance.
“The middle did a great job pulling the block for us, so we had line open sometimes or an open net,” Ballenger added. “So, it was a really nice job by the middle’s help us out tonight there. Megan’s sets were really tempo, so that was good for us.”
Sophomore Maddie Duffy came away with two service aces, followed by one each from Ballenger, Beller and Gebhardt.
Wayne State College will head back to the road this weekend.
“We’re going to have to be ready to play,” Kneifl mentioned. “Hopefully we can get our legs back, stay fresh and work on some things and get better before the weekend.”
WSC will visit #2 Northern State on Friday, October 12 at 6 p.m. and play at MSU Moorhead on Saturday at 2 p.m.
