Institute, W. Va. - With a ticket to the 2023 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship on the line, it was a battle of two MEC North Division teams in the MEC Tournament Semifinals. The Wheeling University Volleyball team (24-7, 12-2) took on Fairmont State in the semifinals, looking to make it to the MEC Championship for the 11th consecutive season. The Cardinals did just that as they picked up the 3-0 sweep and earned a date with the #1 seed from the south, West Virginia State, in Saturday's Championship match.
Early on, it looked like it would be a war throughout the night, with the two teams trading the first 12 points of the match. Fairmont State took the early advantage with back-to-back points, and they held a 10-9 lead on a kill by Emma Ludwig. The Cardinals responded with a kill from Riley Kindall that started a 3-0 Cardinal run and gave them their biggest lead of the set at 12-10. Fairmont State worked their way back into the set again, tying things at 14-14 before a Mady Winters kill got the Cardinals back on track. It kicked off a 7-1 run that put the Cardinals out in front for good, with Winters knocking down two kills on the run. After Fairmont State broke the run, the Cardinals were right back at it with a Kindall kill and set up match point on an attack error two points later. Another Falcon attack error gave Wheeling the 25-16 set win and a key 1-0 lead early.
The battle continued into the second set of the night, as the two teams once again traded the first 12 points of the set. Kindall had hit her stride in that early portion of the set, knocking down three of her team-high 13 kills and a Katie Wilking kill had the Cardinals ahead 10-8. That would be when the Cardinals hit another run, as they scored seven of the next eight points and by the midway point had a commanding 15-9 advantage. The Cardinals just kept swinging throughout the set, hitting .317 throughout, and building a 22-12 advantage. Fairmont State fought to stay alive with back-to-back point, but a service ace from Kindall would set up match point. The Falcons had one more point up their sleeve, but a Tylah Yeomans kill ended the set and had the Cardinals ahead 2-0. The Cardinals had earned a sweep against the Falcons in their most recent meeting and were looking to make it two in a row to get to the championships.
The final set of the night got off to the most lopsided start of the tournament, as the Cardinals scored six of the first nine points to take a 6-3 lead. The Cardinals took advantage of some Falcon attack errors during the run as they looked to complete the sweep. After the lead moved to 8-4 Cardinals, the Falcons began to fight back, going on a 4-0 run to tie things once again at 8-8. The back and forth that had existed in the first two sets was back and the Cardinals found themselves ahead 10-9 through the first 19 points. Wilking turned things around with a kill and the Cardinals were off scoring six of the next seven points as they built a 16-10 lead. It was the break the team needed, and they would bring up match point on Kindall's 13th kill of the night that made it 24-17. Fairmont State would hold up the proceedings with back-to-back points, but it wasn't enough a Tylah Yeomans knocked down the final kill to give Wheeling the 25-19 win and the 3-0 sweep of the match.
The Cardinals just missed the .300 hitting percentage as a team, finishing at .295, and they were led by a big effort from Riley Kindall. The junior knocked down 13 kills on the night, her highest total of the tournament so far, while hitting .333. She also got the job done from the server's box, tying for the team lead with two service aces and finished third with eight digs. She was the only Cardinal to hit double-digit kills on the night and was followed by Mady Winters (9) and Tylah Yeomans (8) to round out the offense. Karly Niesen picked up 36 assists on the day and the defensive effort was led by Yeomans, who finished with 13 digs. Chylyn Pate and Melia Gorrell each added 12 digs to round out the semifinal effort and help their team to the championship match.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action in the 2023 MEC Championship match on Saturday, November 18th, when they take on the #1 seed from the MEC South West Virginia State at 5 PM. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
