Wheeling, W. Va. - In the first week of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Rankings, the ten teams who were under consideration were released in alphabetical order. On Wednesday, the first numerical ranking of the teams was released as the race for the NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament is on. The Wheeling University Volleyball team finished #2 on the list as they get ready for next week's Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament. 

The Cardinals had a big week this last week, going 3-0 across their three in-region games, two conference and two non-conference games. They defeated Notre Dame College to start the week in a 3-0 sweep that helped them get one step closer to clinching the MEC North Division. They followed that up with a special senior day non-conference match against Bluefield State, where they picked up another 3-0 victory. Their top performance of the week came on Tuesday against Alderson Broaddus when the team picked up their third 3-0 win of the week and clinched the MEC North Division. The Cardinals moved to 21-3 in in-region play and have an overall record of 21-7 against Division II opponents. 

Wheeling currently sits second in all of NCAA Division II with a .297 hitting percentage, fifth in the division with 1426 kills, and seventh with an average of 14.26 kills/set. Individually, the Cardinals have two hitters in the top 25 in NCAA Division II in hitting percentage in Mady Winters (19th, .389) and Allonda Watkins (23rd, .382) leading their offensive attack. Karly Niesen currently sits fourth in division II with 1,329 assists and sixth with 13.29 assists/set this season. 

Taking the top spot in the first ranking of the regional teams was Clarion, who sits 23-2 against NCAA Division II opponents and 21-2 in in-region play. Wheeling sits in the number two spot at 21-7 against NCAA Division II and 21-3 in in-region play and last season's regional champion Gannon sits in third at 21-5 overall and 19-2 in in-region play. The rest of the week two NCAA DII Atlantic Regional Volleyball rankings look like this: 

1. Clarion (23-2, 21-2)
2. Wheeling (21-7, 21-3)
3. Gannon (21-5, 19-2)
4. Charleston (28-3, 22-1)
5. Fairmont State (25-4, 23-4)
6. IUP (19-6, 18-5)
7. Edinboro (19-7, 17-5)
8. West Liberty (20-9, 19-6)
9. West Virginia State (23-4, 22-4)
10. Shepherd (18-6, 13-6)

The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Friday, November 4th, when they hit the road to face #8 ranked West Liberty with tip-off at 7 PM.