Western Wayne Today

Wayne State University's volleyball team faced a setback against Ohio Dominican University in the final match of the 2024 Warrior Invitational, held at the Matthaei in Detroit. The Warriors initially took the lead by winning the first set 27-25 but subsequently lost the next three sets with scores of 16-25, 16-25, and 13-25.

Kayla Dulgar achieved her first double-double of the season with 33 assists and 10 digs. Kayla Giroux also reached a milestone by achieving a career-high of 20 kills with only three errors on 30 attacks, resulting in a .567 hitting percentage. Over the tournament's three matches, Giroux maintained an impressive .530 hitting percentage with 42 kills and seven errors on 66 swings. Her performance earned her a place on the All-Tournament Team alongside teammate Molly Miller.

Miller recorded a .176 hitting percentage over three matches, accumulating 41 kills and committing 23 errors on 102 attempts. Ohio Dominican outperformed Wayne State with a higher hitting efficiency of .312 compared to Wayne State's .098 across all sets. The Panthers improved their performance each set with hitting percentages of .122, .333, .429, and .483 respectively. In contrast, Wayne State's best offensive performance was in the first set at .270.

Ohio Dominican secured more service aces (11) compared to Wayne State's five and also led in blocks with fourteen to Wayne State's four.

The leading players for Wayne State included Kayla Giroux with twenty kills; Molly Miller and Katie Smith each contributed seven kills. Carly Rodman and Smith each scored two aces while Leigha Baldwin led in blocks with three.

The All-Tournament Team featured MVP Sydney Hasenfratz from Northwood along with Renee Brines from Northwood, Jenna Peters from Ohio Dominican, Liv Fenstermaker from Ohio Dominican, Kayla Giroux from Wayne State, and Molly Miller from Wayne State.

Looking ahead, Wayne State will participate in Parkside's Hampton Inn Invitational in Kenosha, Wisconsin on September 13-14. They are scheduled to play four matches over two days against Upper Iowa and Lake Erie on day one followed by matches against Ohio Dominican and Northern State on day two.