MANKATO, Minn. -- #2 Wayne State clinched a share of the Northern Sun Conference regular season volleyball title Friday evening with a 25-15, 25-23, 20-25, 25-20 victory over Minnesota State at the Taylor Center in Mankato, Minnesota.  The Wildcats are now 28-1 and 18-1 in the NSIC while the Mavericks drop to 6-21 and 5-14 in league games.

The opening set saw the Wildcats force 11 Minnesota State attack errors as WSC posted a 25-15 first set win.  Sophomore Maggie Brahmer had four kills to lead the ‘Cats in the opening set followed by Taylor Bunjer, Taya Beller and Kelsie Cada with two apiece.

The second set was filled with runs as WSC rallied late to pull out a 25-23 set win.  After the Wildcats started with an 8-3 lead in the set and still holding a 14-10 lead, the host Mavericks reeled off six straight points to grab a 16-14 advantage. 

Wayne State then scored the next seven points and built a 21-16 lead following a solo block from Rachel Walker.  MSU battled back again and knotted the set at 23-23.  WSC then got a point overturned on a challenge, resulting in a Cada kill and then a service ace by Walker closed the 25-23 set win.

Beller had six kills in the set to lead WSC while Jordan McCormick added three.  Libero Jessie Brandl notched 12 digs in the set with McCormick adding eight. 

Wayne State took an early 4-1 lead in the third set, but Minnesota State kept the match alive by pounding out 19 kills with a .321 hitting percentage to register a 25-20 set victory.

Brahmer had five kills in the set to lead WSC followed by Beller and Cada with four apiece.

The Wildcats finished strong and had their best set of the match in the fourth recording 18 kills while holding off a late Maverick rally to win 25-20.

WSC jumped out to early leads of 8-4 and 19-12, but five straight points by Minnesota State cut a 22-14 Wildcat lead down to 22-19.  A Taya Beller kill, MSU service error and a Brahmer kill to finish the match gave Wayne State a 25-20 fourth set win to complete the match victory.

Wayne State finished the match with a .217 hitting percentage while MSU hit .170.  The ‘Cats had one more kill than the Mavericks 58-57 while Minnesota State had 10 more digs than WSC 111-101.  WSC held a 9-5 edge in blocks and 5-3 edge in service aces over MSU.

Beller had a match-high 18 kills to pace Wayne State followed by Brahmer with 17 and Cada 10.  Cada ended the match with her 12th double-double of the season thanks to 12 digs and a career-high six blocks while junior setter Rachel Walker notched her 10th double-double of the year with 46 assists and 12 digs.

Senior libero Jessie Brandl was credited with a career-best 31 digs while junior Jordan McCormick also posted a career-high with 22 digs.  Sophomore Brooke Peltz had two of Wayne State’s five service aces.

The Wildcats close out the NSIC regular season with a key match at #3 Concordia-St. Paul Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.