Phillippi, W. Va. – Entering the final week of the regular season, the Wheeling University Volleyball team (22-7, 14-1) looked to keep their hopes of hosting the 2022 Mountain East Conference (MEC) playoff tournament alive. They did just that as they picked up a 3-0 win on the road against Alderson Broaddus on Tuesday night. They now move to 14-1 in MEC play and it will come down to the final regular season home game as to whether Wheeling or Charleston will host the tournament.

Senior Allonda Watkins got the match started with a kill in set one's first point as the team's traded the first two points of that set. Wheeling created separation, going on a 6-2 run and took a 7-3 advantage early in the set. Mady Winters had two kills during the run and another Cardinal service ace kept the scoring going. After starting the set off with a kill, Watkins just kept on swinging throughout the first set posting five kills as she helped Wheeling increase their lead to 21-14 late in the set. Alderson Broaddus stayed alive, adding three more points to their score but Wheeling brought it to set point at 24-17. A Battler's attack error ended the set, with Wheeling winning 25-17 and taking a 1-0 lead in the match.

In set two Watkins was right back at it with two kills as the Cardinals started the set with a 4-2 run. She was a driving force of the offense throughout the night, and brought her total to eight kills with the set score sitting at 9-3 in favor of Wheeling. The Cardinals would continue to post runs throughout the set going on runs of 5-0 and 4-0 and the Cardinals found themselves ahead 20-11 by the late portion of the set. Tylah Yeomans added two more kills as Wheeling brought the set to 24-12 setting up set point. However, Alderson Broaddus would keep it alive adding two points of their own that brought it to 24-14, but an attack error would end the set and gave Wheeling a 2-0 lead in the match.

Karly Niesen got in the server's box for Wheeling to start set three and wouldn't give up her spot. Wheeling took the ball and ran with it scoring the sets first eight points to take an 8-0 lead. It would be a set where the Cardinals had everything working as they added on five of the next seven points and extend their lead to 13-2. Yeoman's got her swing going, adding four kills during that early run and the defense continued to keep the ball in Wheeling's court. The Battlers would add three more points to their score before Wheeling brought up match point at 24-7. Just as she started the match Watkins ended the match with a kill to end set three and give Wheeling the 25-7 win and the 3-0 win in the match. The Cardinals improved to 14-1 with the victory and now head into their final regular season game with momentum on their side.

While Allonda Watkins had some big kills throughout the night it was Tylah Yeomans that led the offense with 15 kills. Watkins finished right behind her with 12 kills and were the only two Cardinals to finish in double digit kills on the day. As a whole, the Cardinals hitters had their best showing of the season hitting .416 across the three sets. They beat their previous hitting percentage by more than 60 points Thanks in large part to the work of setter Karly Niesen. She ended the night with 33 assists and added a kill to her stat sheet for the day. Yeomans also led the defense with 11 digs on the day while Melia Gorrell finished right behind her with six.

The Wheeling University volleyball team wraps up their regular season On Friday, November 4th, when they head up the hill for the "Battle of Wheeling" against West Liberty at 7:00 p.m.