PITTSBURGH (Nov. 29) - The No. 12 Wheeling Jesuit University volleyball team had its season come to a close with a 3-0 loss to No. 25 Lewis Thursday afternoon in the NCAA Quarterfinals at the A.J. Palumbo Center.
"Obviously this is not the outcome we wanted," said Head Coach
Christy Benner post-game. "They did fight hard and it was a good experience. We do have a young team with no seniors, so it wasn't a whole lot of tears afterwards in the locker room. But it's going to hurt for a little while for sure, because we didn't play our best."Â
The Cardinals (37-4) were led by sophomore
Cassie Meyer's (Jackson Center, Ohio/Jackson Center) 10 kills, while redshirt-sophomoreÂ
Breanna Kramer (Norwalk, Ohio/Monroeville) chipped in nine.
Lewis (29-7) advances to the NCAA Semifinals and will face Western Washington.
The Cardinals led for the majority of the first set and looked to be in control with an 18-14 lead that came as a result of four-straight points. The tide turned in Lewis' favor with WJU leading 22-20. The Flyers took a timeout and notched five kills on the next six points to take the first set 25-23.
Wheeling Jesuit seemed to shake the first set off when they opened up a 7-3 lead to start the second set. Lewis quickly tied the set up at 10 and and eventually built up a 21-17 advantage. A kill by junior
Stephanie Sylvester (Oregon, Ohio/St. Ursula Academy) and points on four-straight serves by freshman
Paige Rawlins (Pickerington, Ohio/Bishop Hartley) helped the Cardinals reclaim the lead at 22-21 to force a Lewis timeout. The Flyers had the late-set recipe once again. They rolled off three kills and a service ace to pick up another 25-23 win.
Lewis had all the momentum in the third set and held leads of 12-5 and 16-9. The Cardinals managed to close the gap to pull within five at 20-15, but WJU was unable to overcome the deficit and allowed the Flyers to advance to the NCAA Semifinals.
The Cardinals managed to force 22 attack errors by Lewis, including 10 in the first set. Lewis for its part held the Cardinals to a .135 hitting percentage and 35 kills, the second-fewest in a match this season. The Flyers took AVCA First-Team All-American
Haley Kramer (Norwalk, Ohio/Monroeville) out of the game offensively. She was limited to three kills on 17 attacks and zero kills in the first two sets. Kramer did notch six blocks defensively to lead the team.
"We knew they had some great players and are coached well," added Benner. "We had our moments in the first and second sets where it was our game and we did not take advantage. It was not our day today, it was theirs. I wish we were a little bit more looser, calmer and more aggressive, but that happens."
"Hopefully we learn from this and are better prepared the next time. It always hurts when your final match is a loss, but not many get to end their season with a win. I'd like that for these girls. They work hard and are a great group."
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