#2 Wayne State 3 Augustana 0
#2 Wayne State College shook off a feisty Augustana College squad to sweep a Northern Sun Conference volleyball match at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota Tuesday evening by scores of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-12. The win moves the Wildcats to 14-0 overall and 5-0 in the NSIC and sets up a #1 vs. #2 showdown both nationally and in the NSIC Friday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne at 7:00 p.m. when WSC hosts #1 Minnesota Duluth, who is also 14-0 on the season and 6-0 in the NSIC.
The Wildcats started slowly as the host Vikings jumped out to an early 9-4 lead, forcing WSC to take timeout. Augustana still held an 18-13 lead in the first set when WSC made a run and tied the score at 19-19. WSC took their first lead at 21-20 on a kill by Diedra Artz and used a kill by Tali Fredrickson on set point to win 25-23.
The second set saw WSC take the momentum early and jump out to an 8-1 advantage. But Augustana came storming back and cut the Wildcat lead to 12-10 forcing WSC to take a timeout. The Wildcats regained momentum and held a 23-15 lead, but the Vikings scored six straight points to make things interesting again at 23-21. But the Wildcats got kills from Mindy Moody and Jennifer Hefner to end the set, giving WSC a 25-22 win.
The third set was close early, but WSC used a long scoring streak late in the set to pull away for the win. With the score tied at 7-7, the 'Cats scored three straight points to force Augustana into a timeout with WSC up 10-7. Later in the set with Wayne State leading 16-11, the Wildcats scored eight straight points to take a commanding 24-11 lead and went on to the 25-12 win.
Wayne State hit .183 in the match compared to .085 for Augustana. The 'Cats had 39 kills and 16 attack errors compared to Augustana's 34 kills and 22 attack errors. WSC had nine blocks to six for Augustana.
Senior middle hitter Jennifer Hefner had a match-high 13 kills and five blocks to lead Wayne State in the win. Mindy Moody added eight kills and four blocks while Tali Fredrickson accounted for seven kills, 24 digs and four blocks. Junior libero Leigh Connot was credited with 25 digs while senior setter Diedra Artz handed out 31 set assists and had eight digs with five blocks.
Wayne State will be at home on Friday evening, hosting Minnesota Duluth in the #1 vs. #2 nationally ranked and NSIC showdown at Rice Auditorium starting at 7:00 p.m. The Wildcats are also at home on Saturday against Bemidji State in a NSIC match starting at 4:00 p.m.
