Wheeling, W. Va. - The Wheeling University Volleyball team (7-4, 0-0) started off day two of the Atlantic Region Crossover the same way they finished day one. They earned a sweep of Slippery Rock University, and improved their season record to 7-4. Wheeling has now won each of their last nine sets played and is starting to get on a roll as they go through tournament play.
The first set of the day was close throughout, with both Slippery Rock and Wheeling battling back and forth throughout the set. Wheeling had a 15-12 lead before they started to run away with the game, scoring the next six points of the set. They rode that momentum to a 25-13 set win, and had their biggest set margin of victory so far this season. Wheeling had an impressive .389 hitting percentage in the set, and had their best offensive day so far, not having a hitting percentage below the .300 mark in the entire match.
Wheeling would keep their foot on the pedal for the entire second set, scoring the first five points of the set and never backing down from there. Their hitters were again impressive, with a .400 hitting percentage, picking up 13 kills on 30 total attacks in the set. Wheeling would go on to win the set 25-15 and had a 2-0 lead for the second game in a row. The one thing they had to work on through their first two tournaments was starting out hot, and they seemed to figure things out playing on their home court for the first time in Fall 2021.
It was a competitive third set early on, with the teams trading the first 18 points of the game to find themselves tied 9-9 early on in the set. Wheeling broke the game open for good with a 10-2 run late in the set that brought the score to 19-11. Wheeling took it from there, and closed out the match 25-15, and earned the 3-0 sweep. They did not allow Slippery Rock to score more than 20 points in any set, and have now won nine straight sets dating back to the first game of day one when they came back to beat Clarion 3-2 winning the final three sets.
Aly Finch found her swing, leading the Cardinals with 10 kills in the game, and was the only Cardinal to finish in double digit kills on the day. Audrey Francis added a team high 17 digs in the game, and Karly Niesen had a team high 38 assists in the win. Wheeling improves to 7-4 and has a chance to sweep on the second day of the Atlantic Region Crossover.
Wheeling is back in action right now as they take on Millersville University in their second game of day two. You can follow along with the match right here on wucardinals.com
