WAYNE – After being named the NSIC Offensive Player of the Year, Wayne State College sophomore Taya Beller collected weekly honors for the third time this season as the Wildcats remained #2 in the nation.
According to a release from Wayne State Athletics, Beller also received NSIC Player of the Week honors this season September 26 and October 10. WSC remained second in the latest AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll released Monday afternoon.
Beller, a graduate of Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family HS, averaged 4.33 kills and 0.78 blocks per set with a .390 hitting percentage in helping WSC clinch the NSIC regular season title with wins at Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul. She accounted for 18 kills and three blocks in Friday’s 3-1 win at MSU and produced a career-best 21 kills while hitting .436 in Saturday’s come-from-behind 3-2 win over the #3 Golden Bears.
For the season, Beller is averaging 3.94 kills and 0.97 blocks per set for the Wildcats. She ranks second in the NSIC in hitting percentage (.408), third in kills, fourth in points per set (4.51) and ninth in blocks.
#2 WSC collected 15 first-place votes and 1,141 points in voting from coaches across the country.
#1 MSU Denver (25-1 with 31 first-place votes and 1,155 points) remained atop the NCAA DII Coaches Poll.
Other NSIC teams in the rankings include #3 Concordia-St. Paul (24-4, remained the same); #4 Minnesota Duluth (25-3, up one spot); #7 Southwest Minnesota State (23-5, remained the same) and #9 St. Cloud State (23-5, fell one spot). Sioux Falls (25) received votes and were listed on two or more ballots.
Wayne State captured the NSIC regular season title (19-1 league play) over the weekend with road wins at Minnesota State (3-1) and at #3 Concordia-St. Paul (3-2). The 29-1 Wildcats face #8 seed Augustana (19-9) Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. in the opening round of the 2022 NSIC Volleyball Tournament in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Join Voice of the Wildcats, Aaron Scheffler on The City ‘KCTY’ 98.9/1590 and waynedailynews.com. Pregame coverage of Wildcat volleyball will be at 7 p.m. Friday night.
AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll – Week 11 Poll: November 7, 2022
2022 Previous
Rank School (First-Place Votes) Points Record Rank
1 MSU Denver [31] 1155 25-1 1
2 Wayne State (Neb.) [15] 1141 29-1 2
3 Concordia-St. Paul 1060 24-4 3
4 Minnesota Duluth 989 25-3 5
5 Alaska Anchorage [1] 945 25-2 6
6 Tampa 873 24-3 4
7 Southwest Minnesota St ate 855 23-5 7
8 Western Washington 775 19-5 9
9 St. Cloud State 748 23-5 8
10 NW Missouri State 739 23-5 10
11 West Texas A&M 715 24-4 11
12 Nebraska-Kearney 654 26-4 12
13 West Florida 615 25-5 13
14 Regis 510 20-6 14
15 Cal State San Bernardino 489 20-5 16
16 Barry 458 24-3 18
17 Colorado Mesa 403 20-5 15
18 Cal State L.A. 382 21-5 19
19 Quincy 342 26-1 20
20 Washburn 290 21-7 17
21 Central Oklahoma 216 24-6 21
22 Colorado School of Mines 208 20-6 22
23 Cal Poly Pomona 171 20-5 23
24 Harding 112 27-1 NR
25 Wingate 79 26-2 NR
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Chaminade 62; Lewis 56; Lynn 49; Central Missouri 37; Central Washington 26; Sioux Falls 25; Missouri-St Louis 23; Ferris State 15; American International 12; Ashland 7; Eckerd 6; Hillsdale 6; Sonoma State 6
7 teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 21 combined points
WAYNE –