Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Wayne State University Athletics

Taylor Wagner
Jose Juarez
Taylor Wagner tallied a season-best 20 kills in the second match on Friday.
1
Wayne State WSU 4-1,0-0 GLIAC
3
Winner Mo.-St. Louis UMSL 2-2,0-0 GLVC
Wayne State WSU
4-1,0-0 GLIAC
1
Final
3
Mo.-St. Louis UMSL
2-2,0-0 GLVC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Wayne State WSU 17 15 25 15 (1)
Mo.-St. Louis UMSL 25 25 22 25 (3)
3
Winner Wayne State WSU 5-1,0-0 GLIAC
1
Alabama Huntsville UAH 3-3,0-0 Gulf South
Winner
Wayne State WSU
5-1,0-0 GLIAC
3
Final
1
Alabama Huntsville UAH
3-3,0-0 Gulf South
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Wayne State WSU 26 25 25 26 (3)
Alabama Huntsville UAH 28 21 16 24 (1)

Game Recap: Volleyball | | Cameron Weidenthaler, Assistant Media Relations Director

Volleyball Splits Day One at Southern Indiana Invite

The Warriors are back in action with two matches on Saturday afternoon.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The Wayne State University volleyball program (5-1 overall) continued the early portion of its schedule on Friday at the USI Invitational.  The Warriors fell to UMSL (3-2 overall) in four sets before besting Alabama-Huntsville (3-3 overall) in four sets.

MATCH ONE vs. UMSL (L, 1-3)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons led 8-2 early in the first set.  A kill from Taylor Wagner (St. Joseph, Mich. / Lakeshore) trimmed the deficit to 14-7 and a combo block from Lauren VanderWal (Caledonia, Mich.) and Halle Shell (Port Huron, Mich. / Port Huron Northern) brought the Warriors within four, 16-12.  UMSL regained the momentum and extended its advantage to 22-15.  Jenna Kray (Westerville, Ohio / Worthington Christian) collected a kill to make it 23-17 but that would be the final WSU point as the Green & Gold fell 25-17.

Wayne State led 302 to start the second set after a point by Wagner.  UMSL led 12-6 to force a a WSU timeout.  Following the break, back-to-back kills from Kray and Kamryn Duffield (Romeo, Mich.) made it 12-8 in favor of UMSL.  The Warriors were unable to find their footing and the Tritons took a 2-0 match lead with a 25-15 victory.

Three straight attacking errors by UMSL gave WSU a 7-4 lead to begin the third set.  Alexa Withun (Troy, Mich. / Athens) moved the lead to 12-9 with a kill before WSU stretched the advantage to 17-11.  An assisted block by Kray and Duffield made it 23-15.  UMSL would storm back with a 6-0 run to trim the WSU lead to 23-21 but a point by Kray stopped the rally.  VanderWal ended the set with a kill to give the Warriors a 25-22 triumph.

WSU trailed 6-4 after a combo block from Shell and Withun early in the fourth set.  The Tritons won the next three points to take a 9-4 lead and forced the Warriors to use a timeout.  A kill from Kray brought the Green & Gold within four, 11-7 but UMSL continued to control the temp of the fourth set and led 14-7 before holding onto a 20-7 lead.  The Warriors made a push and used a 5-0 rally to cut the UMSL advantage to 20-12.  Maddy Benoit (Farmington, Mich. / Mercy) powered the run from the service line and collected an ace.  In the end, the Triton offense would be too powerful as UMSL won 25-15 and the match 3-1.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Kray aced the offensive attack with 12 kills on 24 swings to finish with a .417 hitting percentage.  Wagner posted 10 kills, while Duffield dished out 29 assists.  Benoit led the roster with 21 digs, while Duffield had 15 and Wagner tallied 14 digs.  Shell was a force at the net with six assisted blocks.

ONE BIG THING
Despite 16 assisted blocks compared to six for UMSL, the Tritons outhit WSU .212 to .114.

MATCH TWO vs. ALABAMA-HUNTSVILLE (W, 3-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
WSU led the opening set 5-3 after a kill from Shell and a Charger error.  Kills from Shell and Wagner made it 14-12 before a service ace by Sam Palazzolo (Shelby Twp., Mich. / Utica Eisenhower).  With the set tied at 22-22, Shell broke the tie with a kill and Julia Malewicz (Macomb, Mich. / Utica Academy for International Studies / Henry Ford II) to make it 24-22.  UAH would not go away quietly and tied the game at 24-24.  Wagner gave the Warriors a 26-25 advantage, but the Chargers would win the final three points to win the set 28-26.

Wayne State was slow to start the second set as UAH led 5-1.  The game was tied at 7-7 after a kill by Withun.  A kill by VanderWal capped a 4-0 run to give WSU a 12-8 advantage.  Another point by VanderWal made it 15-11 and a spike by Withun pushed the Warriors' lead to 17-12.  The Warriors held onto a 22-17 advantage after a UAH attacking error.  Wayne State would win 25-21 and even the match at 1-1.

Two straight kills by Wagner pushed WSU ahead 7-5 early in the third set.  Maddie Morrison (Flushing, Mich.) and VanderWal teamed up for a block to give the Warriors an 11-7 lead.  Morrison dropped in an ace to extend the margin to seven, 18-11.  A service ace by Palazzolo and two kills from Kray kept the momentum with the Green & Gold, leading 23-15.  Keilyn Carpenter (Vermontville, Mich. / Maple Valley) got in on the action with a kill and VanderWal ended the set with a kill as WSU won 25-16.

The Chargers led the fourth set 5-1 and eventually 8-3 before WSU used a timeout in an attempt to slow down the UAH rally.  A 6-0 run by the Warriors tied the set at 10-10.  The rally included kills by Kray, VanderWal and Wagner.  The run reached 9-0 after a point by Kray to make it 13-10.  A WSU error gave the Chargers a 17-16 advantage.  UAH won six consecutive points to extend its lead to 23-18.  The Warriors answered with a 6-0 rally to take the lead, 24-23.  The momentum stayed with the Green & Gold and WSU would win the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Wagner tallied a match-high 20 kills and finished with 13 digs.  VanderWal had 16 kills, while Kray collected double-digit kills for the second match of the day with 10.  Duffield notched 44 assists, while Benoit led the defense with 14 digs.  Duffield also contributed 12 digs.

ONE BIG THING
Wagner was impressive in this match totaling 20 kills and 13 digs with a .211 hitting percentage.

HEAD COACH THOUGHTS
"It was a challenging first day in Indiana, but I liked that our team worked through some adverse situations," said head coach Tim Koth.  "Individually Taylor and Jenna had very strong performances."

UP NEXT
Wayne State will conclude its time in Indiana with matches against Davis & Elkins (1:15 PM) and Southern Indiana (3:30) on Saturday afternoon.

 
Print Friendly Version