Charleston, SC - The Leatherneck Volleyball team went undefeated on day one of the Buc Dome Invitational defeating Charleston Southern and Norfolk State in straight sets. In both matches, Keyana Cruse and Brittany Wulf had big offensive performances. Cruse had a match-high 16 kills with a hitting percentage of .417 against Charleston Southern while Wulf had 9 kills and a service ace. Maggie Craker had a match-high of 28 assists in the game against Charleston Southern and Karli Wenzel led the way defensively with a match-high of 15 digs.
Cruse and Wulf would each have double digit kills in the second match against Norfolk State with Cruse having 15 kills and Wulf finishing with 14 kills. Grace Kremer led the way defensively, finishing the match against Norfolk State with a match-high 5 blocks.
In set one against Charleston Southern, Brittany Wulf started off with a service ace on the first point of the set. That ace sparked the Leatherneck offense early as they jumped out to a 9-3 lead to start the set. Keyana Cruse and Brittany Wulf would combine for the first 5 kills of the set for the Leathernecks, with the 5th kill coming from Cruse to put WIU up 17-11. Back-to-back kills from Grace Kremer and Elizabeth Ziegler later on in the set put the Leathernecks in front at 22-12. Charleston Southern would proceed to go on a 5-0 run making it 22-17, but Brittany Wulf put an end to the Buccaneer run with a kill to make it 23-17 and the Leathernecks would take the first set by a score of 25-18.
In set two, WIU would once again start off strong going up 10-5 to start the set. Charleston Southern would make the set 10-8 in favor of the Leathernecks, but that would be the closest they would get to tying the set. Back-to-back kills from Karli Wenzel and Keyana Cruse would give WIU a 12-8 lead and would start off a 9-4 run to put the Leathernecks up 19-12. Brittany Wulf and Keyana Cruse would have back-to-back kills later in the set giving WIU a 22-14 lead as they would go on to take the second set 25-16.
In set three, back-to-back kills from Grace Kremer and back-to-back service aces by Karli Wenzel saw the Leathernecks take an early 7-1 lead. The run to start the set would be huge for WIU as Charleston Southern would go on three separate 3-0 runs throughout the set. Brittany Wulf and Keyana Cruse would once again have back-to-back kills following a Charleston Southern run putting WIU in front by a score of 20-16. The Leathernecks would hold the Buccaneers to small runs and would hang on for the set three win by a score of 25-22.
In the match against Norfolk state, WIU and NSU would go back-and-forth in set one with the largest lead belonging to the Leathernecks at 17-12, but the Spartans would go on a 8-1 run to take the lead at 20-18. Both teams would trade the next six points giving Norfolk State the 23-21 advantage. The next two points belonged to the Leathernecks after back-to-back kills by Keyana Cruse and Brittany Wulf tied the set at 23-23. The Leathernecks would dig deep and go on a 3-1 run to end the first set winning by a score of 26-24.
In set two, WIU jumped out to an 11-6 lead behind 3 kills from Elizabeth Ziegler, who ended the match with 6 kills. Norfolk State would cut the deficit to two making it a 12-10 lead for WIU, but that would be the closest the Spartans would get in set two. Kills by Maggie Craker and Brittany Wulf extended the Leatherneck lead to 15-10 and they wouldn't look back after that. The Leathernecks would go on three different 2-0 runs to distance themselves from the Spartans and took set two by a score of 25-17.
In set three, WIU had a 7-2 lead to start the set. Norfolk State would go on a 5-0 run to tie the set at 7, but a kill by Grace Kremer and a block by Julianna Schmidt would give WIU the 9-7 lead. The teams would trade the next 10 points giving the Leathernecks a 14-12 lead. NSU would go on a mini run to tie the set at 14. The two teams would again trade the next six points evening the set at 17. A 7-1 run by WIU would follow that including a kill by Julianna Schmidt and back-to-back kills by Brittany Wulf to give the Leathernecks their second win of the day.
The Leathernecks are now 5-5 on the season and will play Sacred Heart at 10 AM tomorrow in their final non-conference game of the year.
