Northwest Wayne News

Wayne State University's volleyball team faced a challenging match against Purdue Northwest, resulting in a four-set loss on Friday night at John Friend Court. The Wayne State Warriors, with an overall record of 6-8 and 4-3 in the GLIAC, were defeated by the Pride, who improved their record to 4-10 overall and 2-5 in the conference.

The match scores were 19-25, -23, 20-25, and 20-25. Purdue Northwest achieved a hitting percentage of .336, marking it as the second-highest performance by any opponent against Wayne State this season. The Pride secured this percentage with 55 kills and 15 errors from a total of 119 attempts. In contrast, Wayne State managed a hitting percentage of .180 with 39 kills and 21 errors from 100 swings. This was noted as Wayne State's third-lowest output for the season.

Purdue Northwest showcased their strongest efforts in both the first and fourth sets with hitting percentages of .515 and .500 respectively. Meanwhile, Wayne State began strongly with a .476 hitting percentage in the first set. Despite the loss, Wayne State achieved a season-high of 11 service aces during this match.

Kayla Giroux stood out offensively for Wayne State by achieving a hitting percentage of .370 (13 kills on three errors over 27 attempts). This marked her tenth match out of thirteen where she maintained such high performance levels. Kayla Dulgar also made significant contributions with four service aces—a personal season high—and was one among four players to score multiple aces along with Kendyl Andrews, Giroux herself, and Molly Miller.

In terms of individual performances for Wayne State:

- Kayla Giroux led in kills with thirteen.

- Molly Miller followed with nine kills.

- Katie Smith contributed six kills.

For service aces:

- Kayla Dulgar recorded four.

In blocks:

- Giroux had one block.

Assists were primarily provided by Dulgar who had twenty-nine assists while Andrews added three more.

Defensively:

- Kendyl Andrews led digs with nine.

Looking ahead, Wayne State will complete the first half of their GLIAC schedule on Saturday when they face Parkside in Kenosha, Wisconsin at 3 p.m. Eastern time.