Institute, W. Va. – The road to the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship came to a head with the 2023 MEC Championship match on Saturday. The Wheeling University Volleyball team (25-7, 12-2) was in the championship for the 11th time in program history as they battled West Virginia State in a rematch of the 2021 Championship match. The Cardinals successfully defended their title as they earned their way back on top of the MEC with a 3-1 win over the Yellow Jackets.

Early on, the Cardinals fell behind as West Virginia State got off to a hot start in set one. They scored 11 of the first 16 points of the night and took an 11-4 lead in set one. The Cardinals were forced to battle back and Karly Niesen got them going with a dump kill that made it 11-5. However, West Virginia State just kept on swinging and built their lead to 17-8 in the late going. Tylah Yeomans would get the ball back in the Cardinals court with a kill and they scored three straight points to make it a 17-11 set. The Cardinals just kept fighting through the night and got to within four points late with a Mady Winters kill that made it 22-18. However, West Virginia State would knock down the set's final three points and picked up a 25-18 set win to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

After falling behind, the Cardinals looked to get out in front and they did just that. Katie Wilking got things started off with a kill and the Cardinals scored three straight points to make it a 3-0 lead. Like the Yellow Jackets did in set one, Wheeling got out to the big lead this time, taking a 6-3 lead through the first nine points. West Virginia State would then battle back to tie things at 8-8 and the two teams would remain in a close battle. They sat tied at 15-15 in the middle of the set and the score was pushed to 18-16. A West Virginia State attack error got the ball in the Cardinals court and they ran with it. They scored seven straight points to end the match as a State attack error set up set point. The Cardinals closed things out with a Block Assist as Riley Kindall and Wilking blocked the ball to give Wheeling a 25-16 set win to tie things at 1-1.

In the third set of the day, the Cardinals got out to their biggest lead of the night. They scored nine of the first 12 points of the set and took a 9-3 lead early on. Yeomans knocked down two kills during the run and the team picked up two blocks as they took an early advantage. The Cardinal's defense continues to play strong throughout the set, holding the Yellow Jackets to single digits until the later part of the set as Wheeling led 17-10. The Cardinals would go on a 3-1 run to build a 20-11 lead and extended that lead to 20-13. A service error gave the Cardinals the ball back and they scored three straight points to bring up match point at 24-13. However, West Virginia State kept the set going, rattling off three straight points before a Riley Kindall kill wrapped up the set 25-16 and the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead.

The fourth set began with the Cardinals out in front on an attack error and they once again ran with the lead. The Cardinals held a 14-4 lead after the first 18 points, with Kindall and Winters leading the charge with two kills each. They pushed their lead to 19-6 late in the set and the Cardinal's defense looked to keep the Yellow Jackets in single digits. West Virginia State then scored four straight points to make it 19-10 before the Cardinals hit a run of their own. Winters picked up a kill that started a 4-0 run that made it 23-10 and two points later a Yeomans kill brought up match point at 24-12. Kindall would pick up the final kill of the night to give Wheeling a 25-12 win in a fitting end to the Cardinal's 11th consecutive MEC Conference title.

Leading the way for the Cardinals was Riley Kindall, who knocked down a tournament-high 14 kills on the night. She finished the tournament with 36 kills and stepped up when her team needed her most to clinch the championship. The Cardinals had three double digit attackers on the day as Tylah Yeomans (13) and Mady Winters (10) each finished with double digit kills on the day. The defensive effort was led by Melia Gorrell, who added 22 digs, while Kindall finished with 17, Karly Niesen had 11, and Chylyn Pate added 10 to round out the back row effort. Niesen was once again the offensive leader with 44 assists as she led the Cardinals to a .272 hitting percentage on the day.

The Wheeling University Volleyball team now awaits to hear their seeding in the NCAA DII Atlantic Regional Tournament, running November 30th – December 2nd.