Wheeling, W. Va. - The Wheeling University Volleyball team (19-6, 10-1) has been haunting their opponents as of late on the road to the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament. They look to continue their frighteningly good time on Tuesday night as they welcome in Frostburg State on Halloween night at 7 PM. There will be plenty of treats, but maybe not so many tricks, as the Cardinals try to build on their momentum heading into November.
Last time out the Cardinals invited in the Charleston Golden Eagles and picked up a big 3-0 win that kept them on top of the broomstick in the MEC North Division. The Cardinal's defense continued their streak of terrifying opposing offenses, allowing the Golden Eagles to hit just .090 on the evening. They held them to 18 points or less across each of the three sets and held them to under 15 points in two of those three sets. Meanwhile, it was murder's row for the Cardinals offense as they knocked down 48 kills in 102 total attempts for a .392 hitting percentage. It was their highest team hitting percentage of the season and marked the sixth time this season that the Cardinals have had a team hitting percentage over the .300 mark.
Leading the offensive attack for the Cardinals was Tylah Yeomans, who finished with 13 kills and a .444 hitting percentage in the effort. She has been the top pumpkin in the patch for the MEC when it comes to kills with 320, while also sitting fourth in the conference with a .314 hitting percentage. The senior has had 19 double-digit kill counts across her 24 matches played this season, with nine of those efforts consisting of 15 or more kills. Yeomans continues on her path towards the 1,000-Kill mark for her career and enters Tuesday night's game needing 163 kills to reach the mark. She has been a leader for the Cardinals all season long and looks to continue that success over these final four regular season matches.
The other leader in the MEC has been junior Mady Winters, who leads the conference with a .368 hitting percentage this season and is top 30 in all of NCAA Division II. In the meet up with Charleston, Winters posted the third highest hitting percentage in school history for a player with at least 10 total attacks, when she hit .857. She finished .066 points away from the record, which is held by former Cardinal Casey Harris-Anderson. On the defensive side of the ball, the junior is second in the MEC with 92 blocks and an average of 1.15 blocks/set. Opposing offenses have had to fight through a corn maze to find points as of late and behind Winters's blocks, Riley Kindall has been digging balls out of their graves. The junior has had 21 digs over her last two matches, averaging 3.5 digs/set. That is on par with her season average of 3.67 and ranks her sixth in the conference in Digs (308) and eighth in Digs/Set (3.67).
As the regular season comes down to its final four matches, the race is on for the MEC North Division title in a tightly contested Division. The Cardinals hold the top spot with a record of 10-1 in conference play, followed closely by West Liberty (8-3) and Fairmont State (7-4). In order to clinch the #1 seed in the MEC North, the Cardinals will have to win two of their last three matches or have West Liberty drop two of their final three matches. With the rest of the conference schedule featuring all MEC North opponents, the Cardinals will be very familiar with their competition as they try to repeat as Division Champions.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Bobcats will meet for the 11th time in program history on Tuesday night, and the second time during the 2023 season. The Cardinals have spooked Frostburg State in the all-time series, going 10-0 while haunting the Alma Grace McDonough Center with a 5-0 record in five previous matches. However, Frostburg State faced their fears in the last matchup, taking their first ever set from the Cardinals in what was a 3-1 win for Wheeling.
Leading the Cardinals on the road was Mady Winters, who knocked down 14 kills and had a .458 hitting percentage in the win. The Cardinals also had a double digit kill effort from Katie Wilking, who knocked down 13 kills, while Tylah Yeomans finished up the day with nine kills. On the defensive end, Berit Jones ruled the back line with 30 digs, the second 30-Dig effort for the junior this season, while Riley Kindall and Melia Gorrell each finished with double digit digs.
The Details
Tip-off for Tuesday night's Halloween showdown is scheduled for 7 PM inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
