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 The Warriors celebrate after one of their 10 team blocks against SVSU. |
Sept. 25, 2004
DETROIT - The WSU volleyball team (8-5, 3-2 GLIAC) remains tied for second place in the GLIAC South Division as the Warriors defeated North Division foe Saginaw Valley State (2-15, 0-5), 3-1, Saturday afternoon at the Matthaei Center. After dropping the first game 30-28, WSU went on to win the next three games, 30-25, 30-26 and 30-15.
Game one saw many rallies by both teams. Trailing 3-1 early, the Warriors went on a 6-1 run to take a 7-4 lead, but SVSU answered with a 6-2 sprint of its own. Then down by one, WSU went on a 13-4 run as middle blocker Elisa Joris (Walled Lake, Mich./Western) served up an ace for a 22-14 advantage. Saginaw Valley came within one at 26-25 after a pair of Warrior hitting errors and went on for the 30-28 win. Both teams had 13 errors in game one and hit a negative percentage.
The second game was tied eight times before the Warriors started to pull away. Sofi Berczely's (Buenos Aires, Argentina) kill gave WSU a 25-21 lead and forced SVSU to call a timeout. Wayne State held on for the 30-25 win with junior Kelita Sinclair (Caledon, Ont./Turner Fenton) notching the game-winning kill in the middle.
With junior setter Kerri Royer (Lawton, Mich./Kalamazoo Central) serving, WSU went on a six-point run early in game three for a 12-4 lead. The Warrior hitters dominated with 20 kills as junior Megan Smolen (Grosse Ile, Mich.) had eight and Joris was 5-for-5 on attack attempts for kills in the game. Then for the second straight game it was Sinclair with the kill to win the game.
Wayne State found its grove in game four with an eight-point run and a 22-10 lead as Smolen was serving, including all three of her aces. Joris recorded a pair of kills in WSU's final three points for the 30-15 win. The Warriors had a hitting percentage of .350 (17-3-40) in the final game.
As a team, Wayne State had season highs in digs (103) and total attacks (195). Individually, Royer recorded a season-best 53 assists, while Joris had a career-high 21 kills and Smolen tallied a career-high 25 digs. Libero Sei Hee Hwang (Toronto, Ont./Cedarbrae) led all players with 33 digs.
The Warriors travel to Ashland, who they are tied with in the league standings, on Sept. 30.
