WAYNE, NEB. - The University of Mary had early leads in each set but couldn't finish as No. 9 Wayne State defeated the blue and orange three sets to none (25-20, 25-12 and 25-22) on Saturday, Oct. 1.

The Marauders (7-9, 2.5 NSIC) received nine kills from senior Thayna Silva, eight kills from freshman Anna Nietfeld and five kills from senior Rachel Astrup. Mary finished with a .208 hitting percentage, which was its best percentage in the last four matches.

WSU (12-3, 4-3 NSIC) hit .500 in the second set and backed that performance up with a .333 hitting percentage in the third set to earn the Northern Sun victory.

But the Marauders had early leads in each set. In the first set Mary jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after a senior Alex Brown service ace and a kill by Nietfeld gave Mary a 8-6 lead in the set. However, the Wildcats responded by scoring three straight points to take a 9-8 lead and after Mary tied it up at 9-9, WSU scored nine straight points to pull ahead 16-9 in the set. The closest Mary would come was trailing 23-18 but the Wildcats held on for the 25-20 win after a Michaela Mestl set winning kill.

Mestl finished with five kills and 16 digs for the home team.

Mary took the early 1-0 lead in the second set but WSU racked up eight straight points to put the Marauders in an early 8-1 hole. The Wildcats continued to dominate the second set and held Mary to a .129 hitting percentage while hitting .500 and won the set 25-12.

Yet again, the Marauders started a set with a small lead after back-to-back kills from Janell Finkbeiner and Silva gave the visiting team a 2-0 lead. Mary led 11-6 after a service ace but the Wildcats took a timeout and it paid off.

WSU scored the next five points to start a comeback and after a Wildcat service error Mary led 12-11 but three straight points from WSU and they took a 14-12 lead in the middle of the set.

Mary continued to trail in the set by just a few points but WSU was able to secure the lead and the match victory.

Three Wildcats finished the match with at least 10 kills and WSU used a .321 match hitting percentage to earn its fourth conference win of the season.

Brown and and sophomore Elise Baumann finished with 12 digs apiece for Mary as teammate senior setter Janell Finkbeiner collected 22 assists in the match.

After a two-match road trip the Marauders will come back to McDowell Activity Center to compete against No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 in the Dig Pink Weekend.