“We had almost 500 people at our match,” Matters said of the 3-1 victory at McLin Gym that pushed the Raiders’ home record to 11-0. “There were a couple points where I just stood there and looked around.
“We had the band. We put extra seating on the end lines, and those were packed. Other student-athletes and administrators were there. We’ve really created an atmosphere that we’re obviously pretty good playing in.”
There’s not much doubt about that. The Raiders improved to 22-4 overall — their most wins since 1995 — and are tied for first with Green Bay in the Horizon League at 11-3 with two matches left.
After going 11 straight years without a winning league record, they can claim at least a co-title by beating Youngstown State (8-19, 2-12) and Oakland (14-12, 7-7) on the road this weekend.
“We’ve worked on having an amazing culture, but so many of these players have things that just can’t be taught,” Matters said. “They can be encouraged, and it can be brought out, but these kids already had such amazing qualities.”
Jenna Story easily leads the league in digs and has already set a single-season program record in that category. She’s won six of the 11 defensive player of the week honors in the league.
Nyssa Baker is first in the conference in blocks and third in hitting percentage. Teddie Sauer is first in aces. And Lainey Stephenson is second in assists.
“The best part is we don’t just have one or two players who lead us every single time,” Matters said. “Every match, I’m like, ‘Wow, I couldn’t imagine if we didn’t have her this night.’ And they rotate. It’s a different player every match.”
Wright State, which has never finished higher than third in any conference, is No. 1 in the league in the NCAA’s RPI ratings at 46th among 335 Division-I teams. Green Bay (48th), Northern Kentucky (55th), Milwaukee (72nd) and UIC (85th) also are in the top 100.
The Raiders, who finished 15-14 last season for their first winning season in 15 years, were picked to finish sixth in the league by the coaches in the preseason poll.
Big mistake.
“As soon as that came out, I thought, ‘The team is going to lose it,’” Matters said with a chuckle. “This group is so motivated and there’s so much buy-in.
“It’s impressive what can happen when people don’t care who gets the credit.”
The Raiders, whose current winning percentage of .840 is on pace to be the best by far in the program’s 43-year history, may not have played their last match in McLin Gym. The top seed in the league hosts the conference tourney, which starts Nov. 22.
“Not everyone gets to say they made history, and you never know when you’ll get this chance again,” Matters said. “How many can say, ‘They hung up a banner because of my year’?
“This program has been in tough shape for so long, and it’s like, ‘We want to do this for our program and our university.’”
MEN'S SOCCER: Deri Corfe, who had 10 goals and six assists in the regular-season, was named first-team all-conference this week. Fellow seniors Jackson Dietrich (six goals, six assists) and Stefan Rokvic (eight goals, two assists) were second-team picks.
The Raiders (9-8-2), seeded fifth in the conference tourney, beat Green Bay, 1-0, on Monday and will play in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Thursday against second-seeded Oakland on regular-season champ UIC’s home field.
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