DETROIT -- The final road matches of the 2025 regular season are here for the Wayne State University volleyball team (17-5 overall, 9-3 GLIAC). The Warriors will be at Lake Superior State (1-18 overall, 1-11 GLIAC) on Friday for a 7 p.m. first serve before seeing Saginaw Valley State (8-16 overall, 2-10 GLIAC) on Saturday beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Coach's Corner
"The last regular season road trip is always challenging," said head coach
Tim Koth. "LSSU and SVSU always play very tough against us. We will need to be prepared."
Climbing the Charts
Kayla Giroux,
Kayla Dulgar and
Kendyl Andrews all continue to make their way up the charts in the program's career record book. Giroux ranks first in hitting percentage (.368), fourth in kills (1,289), sixth in block assists (309), sixth in total blocks (374) and ninth in kills per set (3.17). Dulgar is up to fourth in assists per set (10.16), fifth in total assits (2,998) and seventh in hitting percentage (.314). Andrews, who just surpassed 1,000 digs, is up to 1,205 for her career, which is good for ninth.
NCAA Regional Rankings
Wayne State was one of 10 Midwest Region squads listed in the NCAA's initial set of regional rankings released on Wednesday. The first set featured schools in alphabetical order, but they'll be listed in rank order on Nov. 12 and Nov. 19 before the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, Nov. 24 at 7:30 p.m. eastern time.
Midwest Regional Rankings - Nov. 5 (Alphabetical Order)
Cedarville (15-5 in region, 17-5 overall)
Ferris State (15-2, 19-5)
Findlay (18-3, 18-3)
Grand Valley State (11-6, 15-7)
Missouri-St. Louis (18-2, 20-4)
Ohio Dominican (19-4, 20-5)
Quincy (14-3, 18-5)
Rockhurst (17-4, 17-8)
UIndy (12-5, 17-8)
Wayne State (15-4, 17-5)
Come Selection Sunday, the top eight teams in each of the country's eight regions will qualify for the NCAA Tournament. For the Midwest Region, three of those eight selections go to the respective conference tournament champions while the other five will be of the at-large variety.
Scouting Lake Superior State
Wayne State took care of Lake Superior State in straight sets back on Sept. 20 inside the Matthaei. That defeat for the Lakers, who are being coached by interim head coach Abby Kaunisto, came in the midst of dropping 18 straight sets to begin the season. Statistically on offense, LSSU is paced by junior middle blocker Morgan Deming (114 kills), freshman right side Elisa Rizzoli (110 kills), senior setter Vanessa Swerdon (238 assists, 12 service aces) and senior outside hitter Valeriya Varnakova (10 aces). Defensively, Lake Superior State is led by Rizzoli (131 digs), redshirt junior outside/defensive specialist Gia Waters (130 digs) and Deming (48 total blocks).
Scouting Saginaw Valley State
Wayne State also swept Saginaw Valley State in the teams' first meeting of the season, Sept. 19 for the GLIAC opener in Detroit. Coached by second-year head coach Lana Rybkowski (14-37 overall), Saginaw Valley State has lost five of its last six matches coming into this week. Starting on the attack, the Cardinals at the top include redshirt sophomore outside Rachel Townsend (284 kills, 26 aces), sophomore setter Jackie Scheiber (740 assists, 26 aces) and sophomore outside Chloe Vanwinkle (24 aces). On the other side of the ball, Townsend (221 digs) and junior middle Kendall Ihm (52 blocks) have set the tone.
