AMES, IA – The Wright State volleyball team was unable to overcome a slow start on Saturday, falling to tournament host Iowa State 3-1 to wrap up the weekend at the Cardinal & Gold Challenge.
 
Wright State (5-3) now returns home for the first time in 2022, hosting the Tru by Hilton Dayton-Beavercreek Invitational on Thursday and Saturday, as the Raiders welcome Dayton and Wichita State to McLin Gymnasium.
 
Against Iowa State, the Raiders dropped the opening set, 25-14, before bouncing back to take set two, 25-16, to knot up the afternoon. The host Cyclones (5-4) tallied 25-16 and 25-19 set wins to wrap the win.
 
Megan Alders, Taylor Bransfield and Sam Ott all had eight kills to pace the Raider offense, while Aaliyah Byers added six. Jenny Morey provided four of Wright State's five service aces and Lainey Stephenson passed out 28 of 35 assists for the Raiders. Jenna Story's match-high 16 digs led four Raiders in double-figures in the defensive column, as Martin added 12 and both Morey and Stephenson had 10 digs each.

Story was later named to the Cardinal & Gold Challenge's all-tournament team after recording 73 digs in 14 sets over the weekend. She added 19 assists and a trio of service aces. Already the Wright State program record holder, Story is now up to 2,509 career digs and is up to 110 service aces for her career.

 

SET ONE
Wright State jumped out to a 3-1 advantage before Iowa State got its footing and the set went back-and-forth in the early going. Up two, the hosts rolled off a 6-0 run to take an 18-10 lead and then recorded three of the final four points of the set for the 25-14 win.
 
SET TWO
Back-and-forth at the start, the Raiders used a 7-0 run behind kills from Bransfield and Ott to take a 15-6 advantage, later doubling up Iowa State on a Byers kill to push to 18-9. After a brief push from Iowa State, Wright State closed the set with the final three points thanks to a trio of attacking errors by the hosts.
 
SET THREE
Neither side could gain firm control until a 4-0 run by Iowa State pushed the hosts to a 15-10 advantage. A stretch of five of six points for the Cyclones inched them to a 20-12 mark, where they and the Raiders traded points before a kill gave Iowa State the set win at 25-16.
 
SET FOUR
The tightest set of the afternoon, Iowa State jumped out to a 5-2 early advantage before the Raiders pulled back into the set and within two at 12-10. Later, Wright State tallied four straight points to take a 15-13 lead, only to see Iowa State respond with four straight points of its own to regain the advantage. Wright State recorded two of three points to pull within one at 20-19 before the hosts ended the afternoon with a 5-0 run.