West Liberty, W. Va. – "The Battle for Wheeling" moved to the hilltop on Friday night as the Wheeling University Volleyball team (23-7, 15-1) wrapped up the regular season. The Cardinals took down the rival Hilltoppers 3-2 to move to 15-1 to end the regular season. It was a big win for the Cardinals as they gain momentum heading into next week's Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament in Charleston, West Virginia.
The offense has been a strong point for the Cardinals all season long, and their leader had a career-best day.
Tylah Yeomans finished the night with 21 kills on 47 total attacks for a .277 hitting percentage. She also helped on the back line, finishing with 12 digs to complete what was an all-around strong performance. Joining her in double digit kills was
Allonda Watkins, who finished with 13 kills as she continues her quest to get to 1,000 kills for her collegiate career. The back line was led by freshman libero Melia Gorrell, who finished the night with a career-best 21 digs. Riley Kindall (15), Yeomans (12), and Jordan West (12) all had big days on the back line as well as the Cardinals played one of their best all-around games of the season.
Setter
Karly Niesen got the first set started with a kill, and West Liberty responded with a point of their own as the competitiveness of the night began. Wheeling would get the first hig advantage of the match, going on a 7-2 run that made it an 8-3 set early on. The Hilltoppers would then battle back and make it 10-7 as they clawed back into the set. The Cardinals continued to hold the lead as the set went on, but were never able to get more than a six point advantage throughout the set. As the set continued, the set would go to 23-17 in favor of Wheeling after a Hilltoppers kill. A West Liberty attack error brought up set point and
Allonda Watkins finished things out with a kill to give Wheeling the 25-17 set one win. That would be the widest margin of victory in any set on the night as the rivalry lived up to its name.
The second set began with Wheeling scoring four of the first five points of the set to take a 4-1 lead. They extended that lead to 7-2 and later 10-3 as they took what was their biggest lead of the night. However, the Hilltoppers would battle back on a 9-2 run that tied the set at 12-12. West Liberty took their first lead of the night before a service error brought the ball back into Wheeling's court. The Cardinals ran with it, scoring eight of the next nine points to make it a 20-13 affair. Yeomans had three kills during the run as the Cardinals were in position to take the set. However, West Liberty once again came back and made it 23-20 late in the set.
Lexi Smith set up set point with a kill that made it 24-29 and once again
Allonda Watkins finished it out with a kill as Wheeling went up 2-0 with a 25-20 set two win.
The Hilltoppers would avoid the sweep with a 25-20 win in set three and forced a fourth set. It was the first fourth set that Wheeling has played since October 14th, but the Cardinals were up to the task. West Liberty got out to a strong start, taking a 6-3 lead, but Wheeling was able to quickly overtake them with a 6-1 run that made it a 9-7 Cardinal advantage. The Hilltoppers were back in front 13-12 by the midway point and the teams were tied at 15-15 a few points later. That tie would remain until the score read 19-19 late in the set and Wheeling rattled off three straight points to make it 22-19. The Hilltoppers would make it 22-20 before Watkins finished the night with three straight kills. The 25-2/ set four win would give Wheeling the 3-1 win in the match and send them to the MEC Tournament with momentum.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team heads to the MEC Tournament as the number one seed from the MEC North Division. They will battle #4 seeded Glenville State on Thursday, November 10th, with tip-off at 2:30 PM.
