AURORA, Ill. - In its opening match of the 2011 GLIAC/GLVC Crossover, the Wayne State University volleyball team (7-10) battled to a five-set victory over the University of Southern Indiana (12-6) on Friday afternoon at the Great Lakes Center.

After USI took the first set in lopsided fashion (25-13), the Warriors fought back through the next four sets which featured 28 ties and 16 lead changes.  Wayne State won sets two and three by identical 25-23 scores and, after the Screaming Eagles forced a fifth set (25-18), the Warriors eked out a 15-13 triumph to snap USI's five-match winning streak.

Madie Kent (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North), who had four service aces, and Kristen Bulkiewicz (LaSalle, Ont./Sandwich) led the charge at the net with 19 and 16 kills, respectively.  Nicole Arends (Ravenna, Mich.) contributed nine kills with a team-high eight blocks.

Lindsey Graciak (Westland, Mich./Livonia Churchill) set a career-high with 41 digs, becoming the first Warrior to exceed 40 digs since Mayssa Bazzi set a school record with 52 digs on Aug. 31, 2007.

Cydney Biessel (Ruby, Mich./Yale) effectively ran the offense with 43 assists, while also chipping in eight digs, three kills and a pair of blocks.

Wayne State will face Missouri-St. Louis in a rematch of the 2011 season opener later today at 6:30 p.m. ET.