In a battle of top 10 teams to open the 2026 college volleyball season, No. 9 Wayne State outlasted No. 2 Tampa (Fla.) in a five-set battle Friday afternoon at the Paws Up Classic in Garden City, New York as the Wildcats prevailed by scores of 25-17, 25-17, 19-25, 19-25 and 15-11. WSC is 1-0 while Tampa sits at 1-1.
WSC got off to a quick start in the opening set where they never trailed, taking an early 8-2 lead and using a stellar .476 hitting percentage with 20 kills and no attack errors to open with a 25-17 set win.
Sophomore Delaney Miller had six kills while Chloe Hanel and Channatee Robles each added four in the opening set.
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The second set was close early with several lead changes, but WSC would take another 25-17 set win in the second thanks to scoring the final five points of the set for a 2-0 match advantage.
Wayne State's defense forced nine Tampa attack errors in the second set with four coming off Wildcat blocks, three from Hanel. Hanel also had a team-high four kills to lead the Wildcats in the second set.
Tampa rallied in the third set, thanks to five service aces while forcing WSC into seven attack errors, to win the third set 25-19. Miller recorded seven kills in the set for the Wildcats followed by Robles with six.
The fourth set saw the Spartans post 20 kills and a .357 hitting percentage to force a fifth and deciding set thanks to another 25-19 set victory. Hanel had four kills while Anna Borner produced two service aces.
Wayne State never trailed in the fifth and deciding set, but had to hold off a pair of ties from Tampa as the Wildcats scored the final four points of the set with the score tied at 11-11 to cap the five-set battle with a 15-11 set win.
WSC opened with a 5-1 lead and was in front 9-3 when Tampa battled back to forge an 11-11 tie. A Mattie Kamery kill gave the Wildcats the lead at 12-11 followed by a bad set from Tampa and two Spartan attack errors to close the lengthy match with a 15-11 and 3-2 match victory.
The Wildcats forced six attack errors in the final set as Miller (3) and Kamery (2) combined for five of Wayne State's six kills in the set.
Wayne State finished the match hitting .267 to .210 for Tampa. Tampa had two more kills than WSC, 63-61, and both teams had nine blocks. The Wildcats forced 26 attack errors while WSC had just 17.
Miller led WSC in hitting with 22 kills and a .413 attack percentage. Robles added a double-double with 14 kills and 16 digs while Hanel contributed 10 kills and had four blocks.
Kamery had a team-high 18 digs followed by Reese Johnson with 14 and Borner with 13. Setter Molly Romano had a double-double with 47 set assists and 10 digs.
The Wildcats have another match Friday afternoon playing at Adelphi College in New York.
