Wheeling, W. Va. - On Sunday night, the NCAA revealed the brackets for the 2022 NCAA Division II Volleyball playoffs on the road to the Fall Festival in Seattle December 1st through December 3rd. The Wheeling University Volleyball team (26-7, 15-1) learned that they would be one of the 32 teams in the running for a national championship when they were named the #3 seed in the Atlantic Region. The Cardinals will make the trip to Gannon University for the 2022 NCAA DII Atlantic Regional Tournament with the Quarterfinals set to begin on Friday, November 18th.
While the Cardinals will not be hosting the tournament for the first time since the 2012 season, 2022 was another successful year for the team. After a tough non-conference schedule, which featured other tournament qualifiers including The University of Tampa, West Florida, Spring Hill College, and Clarion, the Cardinals began the run through the Mountain East Conference (MEC) schedule. The Cardinals would win their first seven conference games before falling in a road contest 3-1 to The University of Charleston. However, that would go down as their only conference loss of the season as they finished 15-1 and claimed the MEC North Division Title.
They headed into the 2022 MEC Volleyball Championship tournament as the #1 seed from the North and made their way to Charleston, West Virginia looking to bring home their 10th conference title. In the first round, they battled #4S Glenville State and won in a 3-0 battle with the Pioneers. The semifinal round saw them compete in a special edition of "The Battle for Wheeling" as they took on rival West Liberty. After the Hilltoppers took set one, the Cardinals came back to take three straight sets to claim the 3-1 victory. It would give the Cardinals a chance for revenge as they got set to take on the team that handed them their only conference loss of the season in host Charleston. The Golden Eagles took the first set but, just like they did in the semifinals, the Cardinals came back with three straight set wins to claim the title and win 3-1.
Not only did the team see success on the court, but the Cardinals also had their share of individual success during the season. They had an MEC Player of the Week, presented by the Healthplan, five times during the season with four different players winning the award. As the conference schedule wrapped up, the Cardinals would learn that they had four players get recognized with All-MEC honors for the season. Junior Karly Niesen earned the MEC's Player of the Year award as well as an All-MEC First Team honor. Joining her as All-MEC First Team award winners were Mady Winters and Allonda Watkins. While Tylah Yeomans would be named an All-MEC Second Team award winner. After the MEC Championships concluded, the awards kept coming in as Watkins, Yeomans, and Niesen all made the MEC Championship All-Tournament Team.
The 2022 NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Tournament will kick-off on Friday, November 18th, with the Quarterfinal round. Teams will come in on Thursday for their first practices with the match schedule beginning the next day. Wheeling will kick-off the tournament when they battle #6 seeded Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) at noon followed by #2 Clarion and #7 West Liberty at 2:30 PM. The Quarterfinals wrap up #1 Gannon against #8 Elizabeth City State at 5 PM followed by #4 Charleston against #5 Fairmont State at 7:30 PM. The semifinals will be played on Saturday, November 19th, with the winner of 3/6 facing the winner of 2/7 at 5 PM and the winner of 1/8 facing the winner of 4/5 at 7:30 PM. The tournament then concludes on Sunday, November 20th, at 5 PM with the Atlantic Regional Championship match.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team begins their run in the NCAA DII Atlantic Regional Tournament on Friday, November 18th, with tip-off scheduled for noon.
