Ballenger, Beller lead Wildcats in sweep over Minnesota Crookston

Alyssa Ballenger and Tarrin Beller combined for 25 kills while Wayne State recorded a season-high 11 service aces as the Wildcats swept Minnesota Crookston 25-7, 25-10 and 25-14 in Northern Sun Conference volleyball Saturday afternoon at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. WSC is now 15-5 and 7-4 in league play while UMC drops to 3-16 and 1-10 in NSIC contests.

The Wildcats forced eight Golden Eagle attack errors that included four blocks in the first set while cruising to a 25-7 first set win.

Six service aces, three from Maddie Duffy and two by Megan Gebhardt, along with five kills from Alyssa Ballenger propelled the Wildcats to a 25-10 second set win over Minnesota Crookston.

Wayne State used 15 kills and a .302 attack percentage in the third set to complete the sweep over UMC with a 25-14 set win.

The Wildcats hit .355 in the win thanks to 40 kills, seven errors and 93 attacks while the Golden Eagles hit just .012 with 17 kills, 16 errors and 84 attacks.

WSC held a 7-1 advantage in blocks over UMC and had 11 service aces in the win.

Ballenger had 13 kills to lead the Wildcats while Beller accounted for 12 kills and hit .750 for the match. Junior libero Haley Kauth had a team-high 13 digs while senior setter Megan Gebhardt had 33 set assists with three service aces.

Sophomore Maddie Duffy recorded six service aces for WSC while senior Maria Wortmann paced a balanced blocking effort at the net with three blocks.