The Wright State volleyball team defeated Southeast Missouri 3-0 this afternoon (25-13, 25-21, 25-14) in the first match of the Chicago State Invitational.

First Set Highlights

The Raiders took the early lead in the first set with the help of senior outside hitter Katie Klusman, who scored three of the first four points for Wright State.  Both teams went back and forth keeping the score close until the Raiders went on a 3-0 run to take their lead to 9-4.  With the score at 9-4 Southeast Missouri took a timeout to try to slow down Wright State's offense.  The Raiders came out of the timeout though and freshman Teddie Sauer put down her third kill of the set extending the lead to 10-4.  Wright State held onto their strong lead throughout the rest of the match and beat Southeast Missouri in the first set 25-13.  Klusman and Sauer led the Raiders with four kills each, which made up half of the team's 16 kills in the set.

Second Set Highlights

The second set started out close as both teams battled for a permanent lead in the game.  The final tie of the set was at 10-10 after a kill by Klusman, which set the Raiders off on a 4-0 run taking them up 13-10.  Another 3-0 run soon after helped the Raiders extend their lead to 16-11.  The Raiders held onto their comfortable lead throughout the rest of the game and won the second set 25-21 after a kill from freshman Celia Powers.  Klusman led the Raiders with six kills in the second set while middle blocker Megan Hopkins was close behind with four kills.  The Raiders posted an impressive 21 kills in the set for a .415 hitting percentage.

Third Set Highlights

The Raiders had a huge lead in the third set going on a 5-0 run right away.  Southeast Missouri (5-7) was able to stop the run by blocking Klusman, but immediately gave away their serve after a service error. Wright State quickly extended their lead to an impressive 11-3 after four consecutive kills from senior middle blocker Megan Hopkins.  The Raiders kept their lead for the remainder of the set winning 25-14 and taking the match 3-0.  Wright State had 54 kills over the three set match for a .426 hitting percentage.  Klusman led the Raiders with 14 kills while Hopkins was close behind with 11 kills for a season high hitting percentage of .500.  Wright State also posted three service aces in the match delivered by Hannah Colvin, Rachel Kremer, and Jessie Thornton.

What Coach Clements is Saying

"We had a great offensive effort today.  I thought our defense was really working together, and we were in system.  It was a very clean match and one to be excited about."

Next Up

Wright State (4-7) will play again tonight at 6 p.m. against Louisiana.