Wheeling, W. Va. – On Monday night, the NCAA released their NCAA DII Volleyball selection show, unveiling the 64 teams that would compete for the NCAA DII National Championship. After winning the 2023 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship, the Wheeling University Volleyball team (25-7) learned what seed they would earn in the 2023 NCAA DII Atlantic Regional Championships. The Cardinals enter the tournament as the #2 seed from the Atlantic Region and will head to Gannon University from November 30th to December 2nd.
The Cardinals earned the automatic bid after winning their 16th consecutive conference championship this past season.
Wheeling started the run with a 3-0 win over Frostburg State in the Quarterfinal round, as the defense played strong. They did not allow more than 16 points in any of their three sets as they started things strong they would continue their run in the semifinal round as they took on Fairmont State and, for the second consecutive match, walked away with a 3-0 victory. They moved on to the MEC Championship match, where they would battle West Virginia State in a rematch of the 2021 MEC Championships. The Cardinals would drop the first set 25-18, but rebounded with the reverse sweep to claim the 3-1 victory. The win earned them the automatic bid to this year's regional tournament as they get a chance to compete for a National Championship.
The Cardinals had three players reach the MEC All-Tournament team with
Riley Kindall,
Karly Niesen, and
Tylah Yeomans each earning spots. Yeomans led the way with 43 kills throughout the tournament, starting things off with a bang with 25 kills in the Quarterfinals. She had double digit kills in two of the three matches and in the other she had double digit digs with 13. Kindall finished right behind her with 36 kills and continues to be a strong two-way player, finishing second on the team with 36 kills during the tournament, while hitting .308 in the championship match.
Karly Niesen rounded out the trio, finishing with 123 assists across the three days of competition while helping the team to a .317 hitting percentage in the tournament. Niesen helped the Cardinals to a season-high .398 hitting percentage against Frostburg State and looks to continue her success in the regional tournament.
The 2023 NCAA DII Atlantic Regional Tournament sees the team with their highest seeding since they last hosted in 2021. The Cardinals clinched the #3 seed in last year's tournament and made a run to the Regional Semifinal game before falling to Clarion. Prior to that, the Cardinals had made the NCAA Regional Championship match in 22 consecutive seasons and are looking to start that run again. Taking the #1 seed in this year's field was Gannon, who will serve as the host site for the tournament for the second season in a row. Behind them are Wheeling in #2 and Clarion at #3. The rest of the Atlantic Region tournament field looks like this:
#1 Gannon
#2 Wheeling
#3 Clarion
#4 IUP
#5 Pitt-Johnstown
#6 West Virginia St.
#7 Shaw
#8 West Liberty
The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action in the regional quarterfinal round on Thursday, November 30th, when they take on #7 Shaw.
