West Liberty, W. Va. – After getting a taste of home cooking, the Wheeling University Volleyball team (13-4, 4-0) heads across town to take on rival West Liberty on Tuesday. The Cardinals have won their first four conference games of the season, and look to keep things rolling as they play five of the next six games on for road.

Last time out, the Cardinals earned their seventh sweep of the 2021 season, but it wasn't easy as they had to battle against Notre Dame College. The Falcons stayed in all three sets, but in the end weren't able to overtake Wheeling. The Cardinals won the three sets by scores of 28-26, 25-20, and 25-23. In each set, the Falcons fought to almost overtake the Cardinals but a late rally ended up saving the set each time. Even without their starting setter, Wheeling was able to find a way to pull off the set win and moved their record to 4-0 in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play.

The Cardinal's hitters led the way in the game against Notre Dame, combining for a hitting percentage of .260 in the game. On the season, Wheeling's hitters rank second in the conference with a hitting percentage of .258, just 23 points behind West Virginia State's mark of .281. Against Notre Dame, three different Cardinal hitters had double digit kills on the day, but it was senior Lexi Reinert and freshman Rikey Kindall led the offensive attack with 12 kills each. Kindal was the leading hitter for the week, totaling 24 kills in two game and having a hitting percentage of .250.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Cardinals were diving all over the floor. Senior Audrey Francis continued to lead the effort with 32 digs, but she was joined by three other teammates with double digit digs. Senior Jenna Franks (17), sophomore Karlee Lois (13), and Kindall (10) each contributed on the defensive side of the ball. Lois got her first start of the season at setter, and had a big day racking up 38 assists in the win. The Cardinals got contributions from everyone on the roster, which bodes well for the team moving forward. With 26 girls on the roster, it is going to take a full team effort to get them where they need to be to have success in 2021.

With the win, Wheeling is able to hold onto their slim one game lead over Fairmont State. The Cardinals sit at 4-0 in conference play, while the Falcons are right behind them at 3-1. With conference play in full swing, Wheeling will have to keep this success going with the Falcons hot on their trail. Note Dame follows Fairmont at 2-2 and West Liberty sits at 2-2. It gives the MEC North four different teams within two games of the top spot, creating hot competition as MEC play rolls on through the month of October.

The Match-up

The Wheeling, West Liberty rivalry is one that dates back to the 2002 season, with 37 match-ups between the two teams. Wheeling has won 36 of those games, with their lone loss coming on the road in the series. Wheeling will have to keep doing the little things right to hold off a hot Hilltoppers team that has won two of their last three games entering play on Tuesday night. The last match-up between the two teams came on March 9^th, 2021, as part of last season's COVID abbreviated schedule.

After battling to a 1-1 tie in the first two sets of the game, Wheeling would close out the night with back-to-back set wins to take the game 3-1. Reinert and Smith were the leaders for the Cardinals on the day, with 17 and 16 kills each. Smith had a hitting percentage of .306 and Reinert had a .278 hitting percentage as the hitters for Wheeling were key in the victory. That is going to be key once again as Wheeling tries to add to it's second best hitting percentage in the MEC.

The Details

Tip-off for Tuesday night's game is scheduled for 7 PM on the campus of West Liberty University. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.