Wright State Rallies From Two Sets Down to Beat Purdue Fort Wayne in Five

Wright State rallied from two sets down — and from a mid-match evacuation of its own gym — to beat Purdue Fort Wayne 3-2 on Saturday in Dayton, closing its Horizon League regular season at 20-6 overall and 15-1 in the league, Purdue Fort Wayne Athletics reported. The set scores were 23-25, 24-26, 25-17, 25-15, 25-12.

The Mastodons (15-14, 9-7) nearly stole the champions’ finale. Trinity Rye had seven kills in the first set and six more in the second, and Riley Rosneck added seven kills in the second set as Purdue Fort Wayne built its 2-0 lead, according to the Mastodons’ game report. Purdue Fort Wayne is one of only three Horizon League teams to take two sets off the Raiders all season, the report said.

Wright State took the third set to stay alive — and then the match stopped. Early in the fourth set, McLin Gymnasium was evacuated because of burning popcorn, a pause Purdue Fort Wayne Athletics said shut down the momentum the Mastodons had carried since the opening sets. When play resumed, the Raiders finished the comeback, winning the fourth 25-15 and the fifth 25-12.

The numbers finished dead even in attack — both teams recorded 67 kills — but Wright State owned the defensive margins, leading in blocks 15-8 and digs 67-62, and out-hit the Mastodons .325 to .218, including a .455 mark in the fifth set, according to the game report. Rosneck led Purdue Fort Wayne with 23 digs, Rye added 20 digs to complete a double-double, and Mya Plemons led the match with four blocks and finished league play with a .488 hitting percentage — the highest mark in Horizon League history, the report said.

What happens next brings both teams back to Dayton in days: the Horizon League Championship opens Thursday, November 19, with Purdue Fort Wayne facing Oakland at 3 p.m., and Wright State — the regular-season champion and tournament host — waiting as the team to beat. Details in this report are from Purdue Fort Wayne Athletics.