WHEELING, W.Va. (Nov. 23) – For the seventh-straight season, the Wheeling University volleyball team won the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament, notching a 3-0 win over Urbana Saturday night inside the McDonough Center.
 
The victory clinches a berth into the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Tournament in two weeks at a campus site to be determined. Wheeling entered the weekend as the No. 1 team in the regional rankings and is likely to remain in that spot when the field is announced on Monday, November 25 at 7:30 p.m.
 
The win was also the 600^th-career win for Head Coach Christy Benner.
 
THE RUNDOWN

• Final Score: Wheeling 3, Urbana 0 (25-15, 29-27, 25-12)
• Records: Wheeling (31-3) | Urbana (19-10)
• Location: McDonough Center – Wheeling, West Virginia

TEAM LEADERS

• Senior Stephanie Sylvester (Oregon, Ohio/St. Ursula Academy) dished out 49 assists and became just the second player in MEC history to collect 5,000 assists in a career.
• She joins former Cardinal Andrea Thobe (5,917) as the only players to achieve the milestone in the league.
• Senior Haley Kramer (Norwalk, Ohio/Monroeville) led Wheeling with 16 kills on 27 attacks with two errors (.519 hitting percentage).
• Junior Cassie Meyer (Jackson Center, Ohio/Jackson Center) registered a double-double with 14 kills and 13 digs. She hit .370 on the night.
• Junior Breanna Kramer (Norwalk, Ohio/Monroeville) also recorded a kill-dig double-double with 10 and 18, respectively.
• Junior Audrey Francis (Sidney, Ohio/Fairlawn) also had 18 digs on defense to help the Cardinals clinch the MEC crown. 
• For their efforts, Francis, Sylvester and Meyer were all named to the MEC All-Tournament Team.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Wheeling came out strong and opened up a 15-7 lead in the first set.
• The Blue Knights pulled back within six, 20-14, to force a Cardinal timeout, before Wheeling closed out the set with five of the next six points.
• Urbana seized momentum in the second set and maintained leads of 9-6, 12-8 and 18-15.
• The Cardinals rallied back to tie the set at 19-19 and were on the brink of a two-set lead at 24-22.
• The Blue Knights notched three-straight points to flip the script and reach set-point at 25-24, but the teams ended up traded points to knot the set at 27-27.
• Haley Kramer took over and recorded consecutive kills to close out the set at 29-27 to push Wheeling in-front 2-0 in the match.
• The Cardinals raced out to a 12-4 lead in the third set and never looked back.
• Wheeling enjoyed at least a six-point cushion from that point forward and an attack that sailed out-of-bounds clinched the title and a three-set sweep.

 UP NEXT

• Wheeling will await the unveiling of the Division II Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament bracket on Monday, November 25 at 7:30 p.m.
• A live stream of the announcement will be available on NCAA.com.