WHEELING, W.Va. (Nov. 12) – The No. 15 Wheeling University volleyball team clinched the top-seed and hosting rights for the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament with a 3-0 win at West Liberty Tuesday evening.
 
THE RUNDOWN

• Final Score: No. 15 Wheeling 3, West Liberty 0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-13)
• Records: Wheeling (26-3, 14-0 MEC) | West Liberty (15-14, 7-7 MEC)
• Location: ASRC – West Liberty, West Virginia

TEAM LEADERS

• Junior Breanna Kramer (Norwalk, Ohio/Monroeville) led the team with a kill-dig double-double of 15 kills and 14 digs.
• Senior Haley Kramer (Norwalk, Ohio/Monroeville) posted 10 kills and three blocks.
• Junior Cassie Meyer (Jackson Center, Ohio/Jackson Center) was just shy of a double-double with nine kills and 18 digs.
• Senior Stephanie Sylvester (Oregon, Ohio/St. Ursula Academy), who was named the MEC Offensive Player of the Week earlier in the day, recorded 39 assists to lead the offense.
• Junior Audrey Francis (Sidney, Ohio/Fairlawn) led the way on defense with 19 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Wheeling and West Liberty went back-and-forth early on were tied at six in the first set.
• The Cardinals took control of the set with six-straight points to race out to a 12-6 lead, and eventually built the lead to nine at 23-14 to help claim the first set.
• West Liberty held the early edge in the second set and went ahead 6-3 through nine points.
• Wheeling had another big run, taking eight of the next 10, to claim an 11-8 lead.
• Th Hilltoppers closed the gap to one, 12-11, but 6-2 run allowed the Cardinals to increase their advantage to 18-12.
• West Liberty was able to draw within two, but were unable to get any closer. The Cardinals wrapped up the set with three of the final four points to win 25-21.
• The third set was a no-doubter. Wheeling scored the first five points and built leads of 10-2 and 20-3 to move five points away from the MEC regular-season crown. 
• The Hilltoppers managed to make a run to make the score respectable, but a kill by sophomore Allonda Watkins (Beachwood, Ohio/Beachwood) ended the set and match at 25-13.

UP NEXT

• Wheeling closes out the regular-season with contests at Concord and Glenville State on Friday and Saturday.
• The Cardinals' match on Saturday versus Glenville State will now be played at 10 a.m.
• The Cardinals remained at No. 1 in the most recent Atlantic Regional Rankings. The rankings are used to determine the participants in the NCAA Tournament.
• A live stream of the matches this weekend will be available online and on The Mountain East Digital Network OTT app (Roku, AppleTV, Android, and Amazon Fire TV).