Wheeling, W. Va. - After battling throughout the 2023 regular season, it is officially tournament time as the 2023 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament heads to West Virginia State November 16th – 18th. The Wheeling University Volleyball team (22-7, 12-2) open MEC Tournament play with a Quarterfinal matchup against #4S Frostburg State on Thursday at 2:30 PM. The Cardinals enter the tournament as the #1 seed out of the MEC North Division and look to defend their championship from the 2022 MEC Tournament.
The Cardinals clinched that #1 divisional seed in their final match of the season as they took on West Liberty on their special "No Senior Day." It was the final home match of the 2023 season for the Cardinals and they continued their dominance of their home court with a 3-0 win that moved their record to 14-0 on the season. It was a competitive match throughout the night, with each of the three sets being three points or less in the early going. After the Cardinals picked up a 25-18 win in set one, West Liberty had them on the ropes late in set two with a 23-22 lead. However, the Cardinals knocked down the final three points of the set for the 25-23 victory and followed that with a 25-17 set three win as they clinched the top seed in the North Division.
Leading the Cardinal's offensive attack was senior Tylah Yeomans, who finished the night with 14 kills on 39 total attacks while holding a .282 hitting percentage. Yeomans had been held at bay in the previous match against Notre Dame College and had a nice bounce back as she continues her strong season. She enters the tournament fourth in the MEC in kills (359), while sitting second with 3.78 kills/set. She also continues to chase down her career 1,000 career kill milestone, needing just 124 to reach the mark. After her breakout season as a junior a year ago, Yeomans is once again looking to lead the Cardinals offense as they compete for an MEC Championship.
The Cardinals also got efficient hitting from the MEC's hitting percentage leader, junior Mady Winters who hit .357 while knocking down seven kills on 14 total attacks. The junior's .376 hitting percentage is good for first in the MEC as she continued her impressive streak of 16 straight matches where he has a .300 or better hitting percentage. The streak dates all the way back to September 26th against Fairmont State, when she had a .483 hitting percentage. Riley Kindall wrapped up the Cardinals leaders on the day, picking up her 11th double-double of the season with 12 kills and 10 digs. She was tied for the team lead in digs while sitting second in kills as she picked up back-to-back double doubles for just the second time this season.
As the 2023 MEC Tournament kicks off, the Cardinals are in a win or go home scenario as they make their way through the conference tournament. They kick the run off with the #4 seed from the MEC South in Frostburg Stat, who bumped the fourth-place finisher from the MEC South, with the winner playing either Fairmont State or Charleston in the semifinal round on Friday night. The only team in the tournament with a better conference record than the Cardinal is West Virginia State, who enters at 14-1 after earning hosting rights when the Cardinals fell to Notre Dame College on Monday. It will be the third straight season that the Cardinals have played the MEC Tournament away from the Alma Grace McDonough Center and they look to keep their success in the tournament alive.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Bobcats are meeting for the 12th time in program history, and the third time during the 2023 season. It will be the second time the two teams have met in MEC Tournament play, with the programs meeting at the 2021 MEC Tournament Quarterfinal round. The Cardinals won that match 3-0 and have lost just one set to the Bobcats in each of the first 11 meetings between the two teams. That set loss came in the first meeting between the two teams this season as Wheeling looks to take care of business in the tournament opener.
In their most recent meeting, the Cardinals downed the Bobcats 3-0 inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. The Cardinal's offense was led by Tylah Yeomans, who finished with 13 kills, and Mady Winters, who had 11 kills and a .588 hitting percentage. Defensively, libero Melia Gorrell led the way for the Cardinals with 18 digs while Riley Kindall added 14 digs to the effort.
The Details
Tip-off for Saturday's quarterfinal round is scheduled for 2:30 PM inside the Walker Convocation Center on the campus of West Virginia State University. You can watch the match live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
