Salem, W. Va. – It was a Friday night road trip for the Cardinals as they headed down to Salem, West Virginia for Non-Conference action against Salem University. The Cardinals offense continues their efficiency, hitting over .300 for the seventh time this season as they earned a 3-0 sweep over the Tigers. The Cardinals hit .310 on the night with nine different Cardinals finishing with double digit kills on the night.

Nine different Cardinals got in on the offensive action as Head Coach Christy Benner got to dive into the depth on her team. As they have been for the past several matches, the Cardinal's defense was stout, not allowing the Tigers to get to the 20-point mark in any of the three sets on the night. I'm set one, the Cardinals built a 14-6 lead over the first 20 points, with Lindsey James and Riley Kindall leading the offensive attack. They each laid down three kills on the opening run of the night and would end as two of the top three Cardinal attackers. Salem would get as close as 19-13 late in the set, but Wheeling would finish it off with an Aly Finch kill, giving them the 25-14 set one win. It was a big day for James, who ended up setting a career-high with 10 kills on the night, with three of those coming in the first set.

In the second set of the night, the two teams were locked in a battle as they traded the first 14 points of the set. Karly Niesen would knock down a kill and the Cardinals went on to up their lead to 19-10 in the later portions of the set. Niesen had two kills along the run while Chaney Brodbeck and Cassidey Wiley each knocked down kills during the run. Kindall would knock down a kill to bring upatch point at 24-17, and James would follow it with a kill of her own to wrap up the set 25-17 and give Wheeling a 2-0 lead. Riley Kindall was the third leading attacker on the day for the Cardinals, finishing with nine kills on the night. She knocked down three in the second set and the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead into the final set of the night.

After Salem scored the first two points of set three, it was the Cardinal's leading attacker on the day that put her team in the driver's seat. She knocked down two kills and a block during the first three Cardinal points of the night. She added two more kills later in the set and the Cardinals would lead 13-9 in the middle of the set. The Cardinals would go on to build a 16-13 lead before the Cardinals offense started swinging again. A service error brought the ball back to their court the Cardinals would take it and run with it scoring nine of the final 10 points to take a 25-17 win. James would knock down the final kill of the night, with Wiley leading the way with six kills in the set. It was nearly half of her total for the night, as she finished with 14 kills and a .326 hitting percentage for the night.

Overall, it was the seventh time this season that the Cardinals have had a .300 hitting percentage or better in a match. That hit .310 on the night, with the Cardinals hitting .300 or better in two of the three sets. Behind the top three on the night, Karly Niesen added four kills, Aly Finch has three kills, and  Chaney Brodbeck and Avery Henschen each finished with two kills. Niesen added 37 assists on the night to lead the offense as she continues her success as a setter. The defense was led by a pair of double digit digs players with Riley Kindall and Giana Mutersbaugh leading the way with 10 digs each. The Cardinals moved to 21-6 overall and head into the final week of the regular season looking to carry that momentum towards the tournament.

The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Monday, November 6th, when they hit the road to face Notre Dame College at 7 PM.