Institute, W. Va. – The Wheeling University Volleyball team (26-5, 15-1) headed into the semifinal round of the Mountain East Conference (MEC) volleyball tournament taking on a familiar opponent. They were able to knock off West Liberty 3-1, and move on to the MEC Championship Game Saturday against West Virginia State. Wheeling's hitters weren't nearly as effective as they had been, with a team hitting percentage of .234, but they did enough to win and move on.

In the first set of the night, Wheeling got out to an early lead scoring five of the first seven points of the set. The Cardinals continued to keep momentum on their side as they expanded their lead to 10-5 before hitting their biggest run of the night. They scored seven straight points to expand their lead to 17-5, but West Liberty battled back and scored seven straight of their own to bring the score to 17-12. However, the lead was too big for the Hilltoppers to overcome and Wheeling held on to win the set 25-19. The two teams matched each other over the final 15 points of the set, with Wherling scoring eight and West Liberty scoring seven as the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead. The Cardinals hit a match high .333 in the set, and got off to a fast start after starting slow yesterday.

In set two, the beginning of the set was much more competitive with the two teams battling to a 9-6 score early in the set. Wheeling would once again hit their run in the middle of the set, going on an 11-3 run that extended their lead to 20-9 by sets end. West Liberty scored nine more points in the set, and to bring the score to 24-19 before Wheeling ended the second set 25-19 and took a 2-0 lead in the set. Wheeling was looking for the sweep in set three, but West Liberty had other ideas. The Hilltoppers would score the first five points of the set, and would go on to lead 10-3 early on. Wheeling slowly fought their way back to make it a three -point set, before West Liberty went on an 8-0 run to end the set 25-14 and bring the score to 2-1. Wheeling now had to settle this in four sets and not allow West Liberty to battle back in the game.

The fourth set was the most competitive yet, as Wheeling held a 6-5 lead early on. Wheeling continued to lead throughout the first set, but halfway through the set, they still led by one at 13-12. West Liberty tied the game at 18-18 with both teams looking to take advantage in the fourth set. It would be Wheeling that would take that advantage, but neither one of them could get it. The game was tired 24-24 and went to a win-by-two scenario. An attack error by West Liberty set Wheeling up for a win and senior Kayla Bekier would end the semifinal round with a kill to win the game and send the Cardinals to the MEC Championships. It came down to the final few points, but Wheeling once again secures their spot in the MEC Championship game against a familiar foe in West Virginia State.

Senior Lexi Reinert led the offense with a season-high 15 kills and was one of four Cardinals to finish the night in double digits. Kayla Bekier (14), Mady Winters (12), and Lexi Smith (12) each had double digit kills in the game and setter Karly Niesen led the way with 47 assists in the game. Defensively, the Cardinals had a new leader as Riley Kindall finished the night with a career-high 30 digs in the game. Audrey Francis added 21 digs and Niesen finished the day with 15 digs. Wheeling heads into the MEC Championship game with a chance to add another MEC Championship to their trophy case. The Cardinals will have to face the only team to beat them during the regular season in West Virginia State.

Tip-off for Saturday's MEC Championship game is scheduled for 5 PM in Institute, West Virginia. Wheeling will try and defend their 2021 MEC Championship from the spring.