South Euclid, OH. – As they enter the final week of Mountain East Conference (MEC) regular season play, the Wheeling University Volleyball team (21-7, 11-2) made the trip to South Euclid, Ohio on Monday night. After falling behind early, the Cardinals battled back to force a fifth set, but it wasn't enough as they fell to Notre Dame College 3-2. Four different Cardinals finished with double digit kills on the night as the Cardinals took just their second loss in conference play this season.

Each of the first two sets of the night were close throughout, but in the end, Notre Dame College would get the set win both times. In the first set, the two teams battled to a 7-7 score through the first 14 points of the night. Lindsey James and Mady Winters each had two kills during the early portions of the match to lead the Cardinals, but a 6-0 Falcons run would make it 13-7. The Cardinals would remain within five points of the Falcons for the rest of the set, but could never overtake them as they fell 25-22. I'm the second set, the Cardinals got out to a 4-1 lead early on, but an 7-0 Notre Dame College response made it 8-5. It would end up being a set of runs as both teams battled for advantage. Notre Dame College would lead 19-17 late in the set and would hit the final run, scoring the final six points to win 25-17 and go ahead 2-0 in the match.

Heading into set three, the Cardinals looked to stay alive after dropping the first two sets. Winters would get the third set started with a kill as the Cardinals once again jumped out to a 4-0 lead. The Falcons would battle back with four straight points of their own as the teams would battle to a 7-6 Cardinal advantage in the early going. Josie Schroder would knock down a kill that sent Wheeling on a 7-1 run as they opened up their lead to 14-7. The Cardinals would hold the lead, but Notre Dame wasn't done as they battled back to make it a 20-17 set. The Cardinals would then set up set point at 24-18 on an attack error, but two straight Falcon points kept the set alive. Schroder would knock down the final kill and Wheeling got on the board with a 25-20 win to make it a 2-1 match.

The Cardinals needed to keep the momentum going heading into set four, and would do just that as the but a 7-5 lead early. Schroder kept her success going as well, knocking down three of the seven kills while James added two more to get the Cardinals going. Notre Dame College would take the lead back at 9-8, before Riley Kindall knocked down a kill that tied things at 9-9. It would also start an 8-2 run for the Cardinals that got them out to a 16-11 lead late. The Falcons would break the run, but Wheeling started another shortly after and would bring up set point at 24-17. Winters knocked down the kill to set up set point and an attack error from the Falcons would give Wheeling the 25-17 set win. With the match tied at 2-2, the Cardinals looked to complete the reverse sweep as they headed into the fifth and final set.

However, Notre Dame College would get out to a hot start, scoring nine of the first 11 points of the set to start things off. The two Cardinal's kills during the run were both knocked down by Kindall as the Cardinals tried to battle back. Tylah Yeomans would get on the board with a kill to get the Cardinals back on track as they scored three straight points to make it a 9-5 set. Wheeling would get back to within three points of the Falcons, but they wouldn't back down setting up set point at 14-9. A service error kept Wheeling alive briefly, but it was a Samantha Comet kill that brought on the match winning point as Notre Dame pulled out the 15-10 set win and the 3-2 win in the match. The Cardinals fell 3-2 and look to bounce back in their final match of the 2023 regular season.

Leading the way for the Cardinals was Riley Kindall, who knocked down 17 kills and a healthy .240 hitting percentage. It was the sixth time this season that Kindall has eclipsed the 15 kill mark as she continues her strong showing on both sides of the ball. Finishing right behind her was junior Mady Winters, who knocked down 13 kills and had a .400 hitting percentage to push her streak to 15 straight games of hitting .300 or better. The Cardinal's top hitter on the day was Josie Schroder, who finished with 11 kills and a .409 hitting percentage, while Tylah Yeomans added 11 kills to round out the day. Karly Niesen led the way with 49 assists on the evening and added 12 digs on the day. Melia Gorrell would lead the defensive side, finishing with 17 digs while Kindall added 15 digs on the day.

The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Friday, November 11th, when they host West Liberty at 7 PM.