GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Get hot, stay hot. The Davenport University women's volleyball team has done just that as it won its third match in a row on Saturday against Wayne State and made it wins in seven of the last eight matches. Not only that, but the Panthers improved to 5-0 at home this season, are now even with the Warriors in the all-time series (4-4) and are three games above the .500 mark for the first time since late in the 2019 season.

FINAL: Davenport 3, Wayne State 1 (25-19, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21)
RECORDS: Davenport 7-3, Wayne State 4-6

Team Leaders

Kills	Hayley Kreiger (24), Riley Groves (17), Kendra DeJonge (9)
Hitting %	Nicole Odeen (.500), DeJonge (.471), Groves (.341), Kreiger (.310)
Aces	Kreiger (1), DeJonge (1), Odeen (1)
Blocks	Megan Herr (7), DeJonge (4), Odeen (3)
Assists	Odeen (52), Nina Rudnitsky (5), Kreiger (2)
Digs	Rudnitsky (21), Gabie Shellenbarger (12), Kreiger (9)

Primary Performances
- Prior to today, Kreiger hadn't had more than 16 kills in a single match this season and Saturday's 24 ties her career high set on Sept. 24, 2019 at Grand Valley State.
- In the two wins over Wayne State, Kreiger hit a blistering .353 with 38 kills and only eight errors on 85 total attacks.
- Groves has also caught fire on the attack as she has sent home 12 or more kills in three of her last four matches, something she didn't do once in her first five outings.
- The freshman Odeen continues to blossom at setter as she racked up 52 assists on Saturday, 14 more than her previous best.
- Odeen has now amassed at least 34 assists in four-straight matches after doing so just once in the team's first six showings.

How It Happened
- Unlike Friday, Wayne State had the hot hand early as it scored the first five points and seven of the first nine.
- Davenport battled back, though, to finally tie it up for the first time at 13-13.
- Following two more ties at 14-14 and 15-15, the Panthers took the lead back and didn't relinquish it.
- The Warriors scored first again in the second set and were up 2-0, which was followed by five ties, the last coming at 11-11.
- Wayne State took the lead again at 13-11 and held it until three more deadlocks at 17-17, 19-19 and 20-20.
- The point to make it 20-20 came in the midst of a 5-1 run for Davenport that put it ahead by two, 22-20.
- The visitors pulled within one on three different occasions, but never closer.
- The third set was the only one of the week that saw extra points and Davenport had two match points go by the wayside, but Wayne State ended the set with a 7-1 spurt that gave them their first set victory of the week.
- The fourth set was another tight one as it saw nine ties and three lead changes in the first 38 total points.
- Once it was 19-19, the home team scored six of the next eight points to win the set and the match in four.

Next Up
Davenport will play its final two home matches of the regular season next Friday and Saturday when Northern Michigan (9-1) comes to town. The Wildcats will bring a nine-match winning streak to the DU Student Center.

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler