Wright State University Women’s Volleyball | Photo by Joe Craven
It was an eventful weekend for Wright State University (WSU) Volleyball, as the Raiders headed to Michigan to play in the Spartan Invitational.
The Raiders ended the weekend 2-1, after beating Canisius College 3-0, losing to Western Michigan 0-3, and beating Michigan State, the hosts of the event, 3-2.
Megan Alders and Lainey Stephenson were the standout players over the weekend for WSU. Alders totaled 40 kills over the entire weekend, the most at the event, and Stephenson totaled 90 assists, followed far behind by Michigan State’s Celia Cullen with 56.
With their five-set win against Michigan State, the Raiders look strong coming into the Dayton Beavercreek Invitational, hosted entirely in McLin Gym at the Nutter Center.
Sweeping through Canisius
WSU started off the weekend’s matches with a 3-0 sweep over the Canisius Griffins in their first regular-season matchup.
Stephenson led the Raider attack throughout the match, totaling 29 assists, and setting up Wright State’s hitters for success.
Alders, Celia Powers, Grace Hauck, and Nyssa Baker all threatened the Griffin defense, especially Baker, as she hit for .636 throughout the match.
Defensively, WSU totaled 64 digs to the Griffins’ 49. Jenna Story led the raiders with 17; Powers and Stephenson had double-digit digs. WSU limited their own errors to 14 throughout three sets while forcing 28 from Canisius.
Learning from Western Michigan
The Broncos were dominant defensively throughout the match, as the Raiders struggled to get off the ground.
WMU’s nine blocks to WSU’s four and kills from Abi Wilcoxson gave them the edge over the Raiders in set two, narrowly winning 25-22 and giving them momentum coming into the third set.
While Story led the game in digs with 16 versus WMU’s Maggie King with 11, eight players for the Broncos would pitch in with digs of their own to beat out WSU’s total by one.
The strength of the Broncos’ block made attacking for WSU difficult, averaging a .139 hitting percentage as a team.
Winning through five
Wright State was able to reverse the problems they had against Western Michigan to beat out the Spartans through five sets.
They had 11 blocks to MSU’s six, with Baker adding seven for the Raiders, and only had 20 errors to the Spartans’ 34.
MSU’s hitting percentage was in the negative during set two, as WSU rebounded from a set one loss to win 25-16.
Alders was impossible for the Spartans to deal with, adding 22 of WSU’s 47 kills in the match, as Stephenson started attack after attack, totaling 38 assists.
While MSU’s attack was more balanced, with three Spartans scoring double-digit kills to beat WSU overall 57-47, it was WSU’s block that gave them the advantage.
The Raiders will be back in action at the Dayton Beavercreek Invitational, as they prepare for a showdown against the University of Dayton on Sept. 10.
