Wheeling Takes Down Frostburg in MEC Quarterfinal Match
Institute, W. Va. - The Mountain East Conference (MEC) Playoff tournament kicked off on Thursday in Institute, West Virginia, and the Wheeling University Volleyball team (25-5, 16-1) took on Frostburg State in their quarterfinal round match-up. After a slow start in the first set, Wheeling was able to battle back and picked up the 3-0 sweep to move on to MEC Semifinal Play.
Wheeling had faced Frostburg twice already this season and took each of those first two meetings by 3-0 scores. However, neither of those two matches were easy as Frostburg battled throughout the night and had Wheeling on its toes. In the most recent match-up, Wheeling won the three sets by scores of 25-9, 27-25, and 27-25. That was no different in the team's MEC Quarterfinal game, and right from the get-go, the Bobcats put the pressure on the Cardinals in the first set.
Through the first seven points of the set, Frostburg would build a 4-3 lead over the Cardinals and maintained it for the majority of that first set. The lead reached its peak when the score sat at 11-7 and Wheeling was forced to call a timeout. Cardinals head coach Christy Benner said some of those issues were self-inflicted and it may have taken some of the pre-game excitement out of her team initially.
"We just kept focusing on our communication on the court," said Benner. "I don't know if it was nerves because of the first game, because everyone has that, but we just were not in sync. We talked about the communication and the errors we had early on, and how not to create those errors. When we create those errors ourselves it kind of takes the wind out of our sails a little bit. I was happy we were able to come back after a shaky start."
The Cardinals would have to battle, and that is what they did slowly chipping away at the Frostburg lead. They took their first lead of the set on the 15th point when they took advantage of an attack error to take a 15-14 lead. It was a lead they would never relinquish, and they went on to win the set 25-22 to take a 1-0 lead. Mady Winters secured the kill to win the set and was just beginning her big day in the middle for the Cardinals.
In the second set, the script was completely flipped as the Cardinals came out on fire, scoring six of the first seven points of the set. Winters and senior Kayla Bekier got the offense started combining for three of the five kills during the run. Wheeling continued to score points at a high rate throughout the set and had the lead as high as 22-6 by set's end. Frostburg would try to fight their way back into the set, scoring two of the next four points, but the lead was just too great to overcome as Wheeling went on to win the set 25-8.
With a 2-0 lead on their side, Wheeling was looking for the sweep to send them to the semifinal round, and face off against their rival West Liberty. However, Frostburg would not make things easy, putting up four of the first five points in the third set to take a 4-1 lead. However, that advantage wouldn't last long, as Wheeling battled back to tie things at 9-9, and the teams continued that back and forth. The score remained neck and next throughout, with the score standing at 20-20 late in the set. Then, Winters would close out the game for her team as the Cardinals scored the final five points in the set featuring two kills from Winters, and went on to win 25-20.
It was a career day for Winters, who set a new career-high with 21 kills in the match-up, and was one of two Cardinals to finish in double digits. Winters had 21 kills on 30 total attacks and featured an impressive .633 hitting percentage. Kayla Bekier rounded out the offense with 10 kills, and Karly Niesen racked up 38 assists in the win. Audrey Francis and Riley Kindall led the defensive effort with 14 and 10 digs respectively.
Wheeling now moves on to the MEC Semifinal round, which will be played on Friday at 7:30 pm. The cross-town rivalry will be renewed as Wheeling gets set to take on West Liberty.
