Indianapolis, IN. – The Wheeling University volleyball team (2-3) opened up the University of Indianapolis Invitational on Friday as they looked to get off to a hot start in poll play. However, they didn't fare so well in the first game, falling to Missouri S&T 3-1 to kick off the first day of the tournament.

Wheeling and Missouri S&T battled throughout the first set, but the Miners had a slight advantage with a 6-4 lead early in the set. It would be a 9-4 run that got Missouri S&T out to a 15-8 lead, an advantage that they would hold on to for the rest of the set on their way to a 25-19 victory. Wheeling's hitters couldn't get into a groove with a hitting percentage of .094, as they knocked down 10 kills on 32 total attacks in the set.

With the Cardinals, down 1-0, things weren't looking good in the second set, as the Miners once again started hot getting out to a 10-4 lead. The score would sit at 15-10 in favor of Missouri S&T halfway through the second set before Wheeling went on an 8-0 run to take an 18-15 lead. They rode that momentum to a second set victory 25-20 and evened the match at 1-1. Wheeling cleaned up on some of their attack errors in that second set and it led to success as they had a hitting percentage of .324 in the second set equaling their best percentage of the match.

With momentum on their side, Wheeling headed into the third set strong, jumping out to a 9-4 lead over the first 13 points of the match. However, Missouri S&T caught right back up with a 6-1 run, and the set was deadlocked at 10-10 halfway through. The Miners would be the ones to take advantage winning the back and forth battle and putting Wheeling on the ropes down 2-1 heading into the fourth set. Wheeling fell behind early in that fourth set but battled back with a 7-0 run to take an 18-17 lead late in the set. Wheeling got as close as 24-23, but the Miners were able to slam down the final point and hand Wheeling the 3-1 loss on the day.

The Wheeling offense was led on the day by the freshman duo of Riley Kindall (Westerville, OH./Westerville Central HS) and Aly Finch (Oregon, OH./St. Ursula Academy Toledo), who each recorded 11 kills on the day. Senior Lexi Reinert (Cincinnati, OH./Ursuline Academy) added 10 kills on the day, while Karly Niesen (Cincinnati, OH./Roger Bacon) recorded 44 assists in the loss. Defensively, senior Audrey Francis (Sidney, OH./Fairlawn) led the way with 32 digs.

The Wheeling University Volleyball team will play one more on day one of the University of Indianapolis tournament when they face Bemidji State at 2 PM. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with live stats by clicking HERE.