SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio (Feb. 26) – Senior libero
Audrey Francis (Sidney, Ohio/Fairlawn) broke the Mountain East Conference (MEC) career digs record, as the No. 15 Wheeling University volleyball team swept past Notre Dame 3-0 Friday night.
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THE RUNDOWN
- Final Score:Â No. 15 Wheeling 3, Notre Dame 0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-20)
- Records: Wheeling (7-1) | Notre Dame (2-4)
- Location: Murphy Gymnasium – South Euclid, Ohio
TEAM LEADERS
- Senior Audrey Francis (Sidney, Ohio/Fairlawn) led the defense with 27 digs.
- She entered the night needing 24 digs to break the all-time mark of 2,516 digs established last season by Notre Dame's Alex Kaeberlein and got the record-setting dig in the third set.
- Junior Lexi Smith (Portsmouth, Ohio/Notre Dame) posted 11 kills on 21 attacks.
- Junior Lexi Reinert (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline) matched Smith with 11 kills on 31 attacks.
- Freshman setter Karly Niesen (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon) continued her solid play with 39 assists to navigate the offensive attack.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Wheeling led 11-8 in the first set, when it notched 10-straight points to pull out to a 21-8 advantage. The team eventually scored four of the last five points in the set to win 25-13.
- Notre Dame kept things closer in the second set, but the Cardinals never allowed the Falcons to go on a run. NDC got as close as 21-20, before Wheeling closed out a two-set lead with four of the following five points.
- The Cardinals led 15-11 in the third set. Notre Dame managed to run off seven of the next nine points, including five-straight to take put the Cardinals behind 18-17.
- Wheeling only allowed the Falcons to score two more points, while going on a pair of long runs to close out the match with a 25-20 third set win.
 UP NEXT
- The Cardinals will close out the regular-season next week with a pair of road matches.
- Wheeling will first travel to Phillipi, West Virginia to take on Alderson Broaddus on Tuesday, March 2 at 7 p.m.
- No spectators are permitted inside the facility, but fans can watch a live stream of the match on The Mountain East Digital Network OTT app (Roku, AppleTV, Android, and Amazon Fire TV) or by visiting MountainEast.tv.
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