WAYNE, Neb. — The Wayne State College volleyball team was picked third in the 2022 NSIC Preseason Coaches’ Poll released Tuesday morning by the league office in Burnsville, Minnesota. Wildcat sophomore middle hitter Maggie Brahmer was selected as the Wayne State Player to Watch in the NSIC this season.

Wayne State collected 189 points in voting conducted by league coaches in the poll. The Wildcats finished the 2021 season at 22-8 overall and was fourth in the NSIC with a 14-6 league mark while ending the year ranked 18th in the final AVCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Concordia-St. Paul edged defending NSIC regular season and tournament champion St. Cloud State as the team to beat in the NSIC this season. The Golden Bears garnered 217 points and nine first-place votes while St. Cloud State had 213 points and the remaining seven first-place votes. Following Wayne State in the poll were Augustana in fourth with 179 points and Minnesota Duluth and Northern State tied for fifth at 149 points each.

Southwest Minnesota State came in seventh with 146 points, slightly ahead of Winona State’s 141 points. Minnesota State (115) and Upper Iowa (109) rounded out the top 10 teams.

Closing out the poll were Sioux Falls (98 pts), MSU Moorhead (61), Bemidji State (52), University of Mary (50), Minnesota Crookston (27) and Minot State (25).

Brahmer, a 6-0 sophomore middle hitter from Pierce , was listed Wayne State’s Player to Watch in the NSIC this season after earning All-NSIC First Team honors last season. She averaged 2.65 kills and 0.88 blocks per set while leading the NSIC and ranking third in NCAA Division II with a .461 attack percentage. Brahmer had at least one block in all but one match last season.

Wayne State opens the 2022 season at the Adelphi Tournament in New York on  Aug. 25.

Hinton's Goosmann chooses Iowa Lakes

HINTON, Iowa — Iowa Lakes Community College announced Monday the signing of Hinton grad Madison Goosmann to the 2022-2023 softball recruiting class. Goosmann is the daughter of Jay and Autumn Goosmann.

In her senior year, Goosmann batted .451 with a .527 on-base percentage for the Blackhawks. She compiled 41 hits on the year, with seven doubles, one triple, and two homeruns.

In 91 at-bats, Goosmann struck out just five times, while drawing fifteen walks. She also drove in 30 of her teammates on the season. In the field, Goosmann had 17 assists with 280 putouts to earn a .971 fielding percentage. For her efforts this year, Goosmann earned All-Conference, All-District, and Third Team All-State. As a junior, she was awarded All-Conference.

X's trade Hilliard to Otters

SIOUX CITY — Before Tuesday's game, the Sioux City Explorers traded pitcher Ma’Khail Hilliard to the Evansville Otters for a player to be named later. 

The Otters are a member of the Frontier League, a partner league of Major League Baseball. 

Hilliard arrived late last month and pitched in two games with the Explorers. The former LSU Tiger pitcher lost both of those decisions, and he had a 15.18 earned run average. 

He struck out four and walked 10 batters in 5 1/3 innings. 

“He’s a kid who comes from a big-time program,” said X's manager Montgomery during the previous home stand. “We saw what we thought he was going to do. He has four pitches he can throw for strikes in the video we saw. He’s pitching for contact, but he has swing-and-miss secondary stuff.”