Frostburg, MD. – As the regular season comes down to its final two weeks, the Wheeling University Volleyball team (19-7, 12-1) looked to keep momentum on their side. Their offense took the lead, with four Cardinals finishing with double digit kills as Wheeling beat Frostburg State 3-0 in Frostburg, Maryland. The Cardinals move to 12-1 in conference play and keep pace with Charleston, who also moves to 12-1, in the race to host the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship Tournament.

Those hitters took center stage right from set one as Mady Winters and Lexi Smith got the first set started with a pair of kills and Wheeling took an early 5-2 lead. Frostburg State would battled back to tie things at 5-5, and that became the flow of the first set. When the score was locked at 13-13, Smith added a kill and Wheeling went on it's best run of the day at 7-2. That run opened the scoring up to 20-14 as the Cardinals held their biggest lead of the night. However, Frostburg State got back to within three points before Riley Kindall turned things around with a kill and Wheeling would eventually get to set point at 24-19. Frostburg State would add one more point, but a Karly Niesen kill ended the set at 25-20 to take a 1-0 lead.

Offense would continue to roll the day in set two as Wheeling scored the first three points and seven of the first nine in the set. Smith and Tylah Yeomans would each have two kills during the run, but once again the Bobcats fought back to make it an 8-6 set. Allonda Watkins would get going with a kill and Wheeling was back out in front 14-7 after a 6-1 run. Watkins would have a big set, picking up five kills as Wheeling maintained a lead of three points or more throughout the second set. Once again, Wheeling brought up set point at 24-19 and once again Frostburg State added another Point to make it a 24-20 set. The Cardinals would again end the set with a kill, this time courtesy of Tylah Yeomans, and the Cardinals led Frostburg State 2-0 in the match.

In the third set, Frostburg State scored first for the first time in the match, but Wheeling still held a 5-3 lead in the early going. After the Bobcats tied the set at 7-7, the team's would go back and forth trading the next eight points to tie the set at 11-11. A pair of kills by Lexi Smith got the Cardinals ahead, and a 5-1 run created separation at 16-12. Frostburg State would stay close, making it a three point set in the late going at 21-17 and forcing a Wheeling timeout. However, the Cardinals came back strong, scoring three straight points, kick-started by a Riley Kindall kill that made it 24-17. Kindall would end the run the same as she started it with a kill on the final play to give the Cardinals the 25-17 win. 

Leading the way for the Cardinals was Allonda Watkins, who finished with 11 kills on the day. She was one of four Cardinals who finished in double digit kills on the day as Lexi Smith, Riley Kindall, and Tylah Yeomans all finishing with 10 kills. Watkins led the foursome with a .450 hitting percentage and Smith finished at .409 to make it two Cardinals with a .400+ hitting percentage. Setting up all of the success was Karly Niesen, who helped lead her team to a .333 hitting percentage, their second best mark of the year. Niesen finished with 44 assists on the day and had a .500 hitting percentage of her own with four kills and one attack error in six tries. Niesen led the defense as well with 14 digs, with Jordan West (13) and Melia Gorrell (12) finishing right behind her.

The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns home on Friday, October 28th, when they host Notre Dame College at 7 PM.