DETROIT -- Taking a break from the gauntlet that is GLIAC play, the Wayne State University volleyball team will be in Hammond, Ind. on Friday and Saturday for the 16th annual Midwest Region Crossover.  The Warriors will face the likes of No. 11 Missouri-St. Louis (10 AM ET) and Ashland (8 PM ET) on Friday with Saturday's opponent to be decided based on day one's results.

Coach's Corner
"The Midwest Region Crossover is one of the best events in collegiate sports!," said head coach Tim Koth.  "There is no other place where the entire region of a country comes together to compete at one site.  With that being said, we are very much looking forward to the out of conference competition, and to see where we stand in our region at the midway point of the season.  It should be an exciting two days."

About the Event
The Midwest Region Volleyball Crossover, the nation's largest collegiate volleyball tournament, will be held at the Hammond Sportsplex & Community Center as well as the campus of Purdue Northwest in Hammond, Indiana, on Oct. 18-19.  The event will pit 14 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) volleyball teams against 13 institutions representing the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) and 11 schools from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).

Last Time Out
Wayne State was last in action on Friday and Saturday with road trips to Purdue Northwest and Parkside, respectively.  Friday night, the Warriors fell to the Pride in four sets, PNW's third straight victory over WSU in the all-time series.  Saturday though, Wayne State bounced back nicely to take care of the Rangers in straight sets.  That marked the Warriors third win in a row when coming off a loss.

Scouting No. 11 Missouri-St. Louis (13-2 overall, 4-1 GLVC)
Ranked as high as fourth in this season's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) rankings, Missouri-St. Louis enters this tournament having won four straight matches and eight of the previous nine.  The Tritons are coached by 14th-year head coach Ryan Young, who has amassed an overall record of 277-134 (.674 winning percentage) in those 13+ campaigns at the helm.  UMSL is among the country's top 10 in both assists per set (sixth - 13.71) and kills per set (ninth - 14.37).  Missouri-St. Louis is also ranked 18th nationally in winning percentage (.867), 36th in hitting percentage (.241), 39th in team attacks per set (37.83) and 40th in team assists (809).

Individually, starting with the offense, the Tritons' attack is fueled by freshman right side Alayna Santel and junior setter Caitlin Bishop.  Santel is 50th among Division II leaders in kills per set (3.76), 51st in total kills (222) and 55th in points per set (4.19).  Bishop, a 2023 AVCA First Team All-American, is even higher on the national charts ranking third in assists per set (12.53) and seventh in total assists (739).  Not to mention Bishop's team-best 22 service aces.  Defensively, sophomore libero Skylar Weaver is 39th in the country for digs per set (4.93) and 54th in total digs (291) while junior middle Hannah Copeland has racked up a team-high 41 total blocks to go with a .372 hitting percentage.

Scouting Ashland (12-4 overall, 6-1 G-MAC)
Even hotter than Missouri-St. Louis, Ashland has been on the right side of the scoreboard for five matches in a row and seven of the last eight.  The Eagles are coached by a recent hire in second-year leader Katie Kuhn who's 34-14 overall in one-plus seasons for a .708 winning percentage.  Prior to Ashland, Kuhn was the head coach at Ohio Northern from 2020-22, going 51-19 (.729), with highlights including Ohio Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles and a spot in the NCAA Division III playoffs in 2021.  That Polar Bear squad was ranked as high as No. 8 in the country.  As a player for the Polar Bears, Kuhn was a four-year letterwinner and three-year team captain, recording 4,680 career assists.

This season, Ashland's offense has been paced by senior right side GraceAnn Hartman (178 kills), rookie outside hitter Sara Krizsa (172 kills) and sophomore setter Kylee Urban (569 assists, 37 aces).  For Urban, she's been one of the country's best at the service line ranking 13th nationally in both total aces and aces per set (0.63).  Defensively, the Eagles' ringleader is sophomore defensive specialist Abbey Queen, who's 12th in D2 for digs per set (5.64) and 22nd in total digs (333).  Above the net, sophomore middle Ravin Morgan (49 total blocks) and Hartman (44 blocks) have been stellar.