Wheeling, W. Va. - After a long stretch of road games during October, the Wheeling University Volleyball team (18-5, 9-1) finishes off the final two weeks of the regular season with a healthy dose of home games. They kick it off on Friday when they host West Virginia Wesleyan with tip-off scheduled for 7 PM and continue it on Saturday when they host Davis & Elkins at 4 PM. Wheeling will play five of their final six regular-season games on their home court as they try and rack up as many wins as they can.

Last time out, the Cardinals completed a stretch where they played six of eight games on the road and finished it off with a 3-0 sweep of Fairmont State. Wheeling had a hitting percentage of .230 or better in all three sets and had a hitting percentage over .300 in each of the first two sets. It was this offensive success that helped them hold off the Falcons and win their three sets by scores of 25-8, 25-21, and 25-21.

Leading the offensive success was a pair of seniors in Kayla Bekier and Lexi Reinert, who each finished the night with 11 kills. Reinert was the more efficient of the two hitters, with a hitting percentage of .526, and was one of two Cardinals with a .500+ hitting percentage on the day. The other was freshman Aly Finch, who finished the game with four kills on seven total attacks, registering a .571 hitting percentage for the match.

On the defensive side of the ball, a trio of Cardinals finished with double-digit digs as they kept the ball off the floor. Leading the way was senior Audrey Francis, who totaled 14 digs in the match, as she continues her Mountain East Conference (MEC) leading defensive effort. Behind her was sophomore Karly Niesen with 11 digs and sophomore Raegan Rosi with 10 digs. Niesen also added a team-high 31 assists to round out her night and give Wheeling the win.

With the win, Wheeling claimed an all-important two-game lead over Fairmont State in the MEC North Division standings. However, in the big picture, Wheeling is one of three MEC teams that currently sit at 9-1 in Conference play. In the south, both West Virginia State and Davis & Elkins enter play on Friday at 9-1. It is going to come down to the wire over the last two weeks of the season as Wheeling now tries to win home-court advantage for the playoffs. With six games to go, Wheeling will be looking to win out the rest of its games so that they can control their own playoff destiny.

The Match-ups

West Virginia Wesleyan: The Bobcats and Cardinals have met 23 times since the 2002 season and will be matching up for the first time since the 2019 season on Friday. In that game, Wheeling was able to defeat the Bobcats 3-0, winning the three sets by scores of 25-12, 25-19, and 25-13. It marked the 23rd time that Wheeling has defeated West Virginia Wesleyan, and they look for another win on Friday.

Davis & Elkins: The match-up between the Cardinals and Senators is not nearly as extensive but still spans 16 games dating back to the 2002 season. They also last met in the 2019 season in a game that Wheeling won 25-15, 25-16, and 25-20. Davis & Elkins is one of the three MEC teams that enter Friday at 9-1, and Wheeling is hoping to knock them down.

The Details