WHEELING, W.Va. (Oct. 9) – Four Cardinals established double-digit kills, as the No. 20 Wheeling Jesuit volleyball team earned a 3-1 win (20-25, 27-25, 25-12, 25-19) over West Liberty Tuesday night in a rematch of last season's Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship at the McDonough Center.
 
The Cardinals improve to 6-0 in conference play, 19-3 overall this season, and assume first place in the MEC standings. Meanwhile, the Hilltoppers fall to 17-5 overall, 6-1 in the MEC.
 
Sophomore Cassie Meyer (Jackson Center, Ohio/Jackson Center) collected her 11^thkill-dig double-double this season with 18 kills and a season-high 22 digs in the win.  Junior Haley Kramer (Norwalk, Ohio/Monroeville) tallied 14 kills on 25 attacks (.480 hitting percentage) with a team-best seven blocks (one solo). 
 
Sophomore Makenna Babb (Arlington, Ohio/McComb) and freshman Allonda Watkins (Beachwood, Ohio/Beachwood) each added 12 kills for the Cardinals. Babb also chipped in 17 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.
 
Junior setter Stephanie Sylvester (Oregon, Ohio/St. Ursula Academy) tossed around 58 assists to go with 13 digs, while sophomore Audrey Francis (Sidney, Ohio/Fairlawn) posted a team-high 27 digs on defense.
 
West Liberty set the tone early with an 11-1 lead in the opening frame. The Cardinals battled all the way back to 23-20, before submitting at 25-20 to allow the Hilltoppers to take the first set.
 
West Liberty kept the momentum going and raced out to a 10-3 lead in the second set. The Hilltoppers looked poised to take a 2-0 lead in the match when they led 18-12, before Wheeling Jesuit began to rally. The Cardinals won 10 of the next 13 points to take a 22-21 lead; their first lead of any kind in the match. 
 
West Liberty recovered and reached set-point at 24-23, but a serve that went out-of-bounds gave Wheeling Jesuit life. The Hilltoppers once again came one point away from a two-set lead at 25-24, before the Cardinals collected the next three points to escape with a 27-25 win and a 1-1 tie in the match.
 
Wheeling Jesuit dominated in the third set. The Cardinals built a 17-3 lead, including a run of seven-straight points on Francis' serves, to pull away from the Hilltoppers. WJU eventually claimed the set at 25-12, hitting a match-best .567 with 17 kills on 30 attacks (zero errors).
 
West Liberty possessed the lead early in the fourth set. With the score 11-9, Wheeling Jesuit recorded four-straight points to grab a 13-11 edge. The back-and-forth set saw the Hilltoppers eventually respond with four-unanswered of their own to take a 17-15 lead. The Cardinals finally closed the evening with 10 of the final 12 points to claim a 25-19 win and first-place in the MEC standings.
 
West Liberty finished the match with 14 blocks and forced 22 errors in the first two sets. Wheeling Jesuit only committed two errors in the final two sets.
 
West Liberty's Madison Clayton posted 10 kills to lead the Hilltoppers in the loss.
 
The Cardinals are on the road in their next five matches. Wheeling Jesuit opens the road-trip on Friday, October 12 with a visit to Institute, West Virginia to take on West Virginia State at 7 p.m.