WAYNE – A pair of fall sports at Wayne State College had individuals on their teams recognized with All-Conference awards earlier this week.
As the Wildcat women’s soccer season came to an end during the 2019 NSIC Tourney, three athletes landed on the All-Conference list.
Senior Sophia Ketchmark received Second Team honors, junior Rylie Wehner was named Third Team and junior Megan Schuster was tabbed honorable mention.
Ketchmark, a 5-4 midfielder from La Vista (Omaha Gross HS), collected Second Team honors after named honorable mention last season. She led the Wildcats in scoring this season with seven points on two goals and three assists, ranking second on the team in minutes played (1,612). Ketchmark scored both goals in a 2-0 win at Minnesota Crookston (10/27/19) and assisted on goals at Sioux Falls, vs. Minot State and vs. Northern State. She also excelled in the classroom this year earning CoSIDA Academic All-District VII First Team honors with a 4.00 grade point average.
Wehner, a 5-6 forward from Golden, Colorado (Golden HS) earned Third Team honors for the Wildcats after recording five points with two goals and one assist. She led the team in shots (44) and ranked second in shots on goal with 22 while playing in all 19 games with 15 starts this season. Wehner scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 overtime win at Sioux Falls (9/20/19) and had a goal in a 2-1 win over Minot State (9/27/19) while assisting on a goal in a 1-0 overtime win at Minnesota Duluth (10/6/19).
Schuster is a 5-9 junior defender from Arvada, Colorado (Ralston Valley HS) who earned All-NSIC honorable mention honors. She started in 17 games this season and anchored a Wildcat defense that recorded six shutouts, scoring one goal in a 1-1 overtime tie vs. Northern State (10/20/19). Despite missing two games due to injury, Schuster still ranked third on the team in minutes played (1,514).
Wayne State finished the season 6-9-4 overall and eighth place in the NSIC with a 6-7-2 league mark, qualifying for the NSIC Tournament for the first time since the 2006 season.
With the 13th-ranked Wayne State College volleyball team closing out their regular season this weekend two middle hitters were tabbed with league awards.
Senior middle hitter Tarrin Beller received First Team honors while junior middle hitter Jaci Brahmer was a Second Team All-NSIC honoree for a third straight season.
Beller, a 6-0 senior middle hitter from Humphrey (Humphrey HS), leads Wayne State in kills per set (2.87) and blocks per set (1.23) this season. She leads the NSIC in blocks per set and ranks sixth in the league with a .350 hitting percentage. Twice this season Beller has been named NSIC Player of the Week and has recorded at least two blocks in all but one match this season. She has 13 matches with 10 or more kills, highlighted by a career-best 18 kills at Augustana on October 31. Beller has ranked either first or second in the NSIC in blocks per set the last two seasons.
Brahmer, a 6-1 junior middle hitter from Pierce (Pierce HS) is averaging 2.04 kills and 1.03 blocks per set while hitting .406 this season for the Wildcats. She ranks third in the NSIC in hitting percentage and is fourth in blocks per set. Brahmer recorded a season-best 13 kills vs. CSU-Pueblo (9/7/19) and had a season-high nine blocks vs. Minot State (9/27/19).
WSC will close out their regular season hosting #7 Northern State at 4 p.m. Saturday from Rice Auditorium.