Western Wayne Today

The Wayne State University volleyball team is preparing for its final road matches of the 2025 regular season. The Warriors, who hold a 17-5 overall record and are 9-3 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), will play against Lake Superior State on Friday at 7 p.m., followed by a match against Saginaw Valley State on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Head coach Tim Koth commented on the upcoming trip, saying, "The last regular season road trip is always challenging. LSSU and SVSU always play very tough against us. We will need to be prepared."

Several players continue to climb in the program's career records. Kayla Giroux leads in hitting percentage (.368), ranks fourth in kills (1,289), sixth in block assists (309), sixth in total blocks (374), and ninth in kills per set (3.17). Kayla Dulgar stands fourth in assists per set (10.16), fifth in total assists (2,998), and seventh in hitting percentage (.314). Kendyl Andrews recently surpassed 1,000 digs and now has 1,205 for her career, placing her ninth all-time.

Wayne State was included among ten Midwest Region teams listed in the NCAA’s initial regional rankings released Wednesday. The first ranking presented schools alphabetically; subsequent rankings will be ordered by rank on November 12 and November 19 ahead of the NCAA Selection Show scheduled for Monday, November 24 at 7:30 p.m. eastern time.

In these regional rankings for November 5, Wayne State joins Cedarville, Ferris State, Findlay, Grand Valley State, Missouri-St. Louis, Ohio Dominican, Quincy, Rockhurst, and UIndy as contenders from the Midwest Region. When selections are made for the NCAA Tournament later this month, eight teams from each region will qualify—three automatic bids go to conference tournament champions while five spots are awarded at-large.

Wayne State previously defeated Lake Superior State earlier this season with a straight-set victory on September 20 at home inside Matthaei Volleyball Facility. Lake Superior State enters Friday’s game with a record of one win and eighteen losses overall under interim head coach Abby Kaunisto. Offensively for LSSU, Morgan Deming leads with 114 kills; Elisa Rizzoli has added another 110 kills; Vanessa Swerdon has contributed with both assists (238) and service aces (12); Valeriya Varnakova also holds ten aces this season. On defense Rizzoli has tallied 131 digs while Gia Waters follows closely behind with 130 digs; Deming leads blocking efforts with forty-eight total blocks.

Saginaw Valley State also lost to Wayne State earlier this year during their GLIAC opener on September 19th in Detroit—a match that ended with another sweep by Wayne State. Led by second-year head coach Lana Rybkowski (14-37 overall coaching record), Saginaw Valley comes into this week having lost five of its last six matches. Their attack is paced by Rachel Townsend who has recorded two hundred eighty-four kills along with twenty-six aces; Jackie Scheiber adds seven hundred forty assists plus twenty-six aces; Chloe Vanwinkle provides an additional twenty-four aces offensively while Townsend leads defensively with two hundred twenty-one digs alongside Kendall Ihm’s fifty-two blocks.