Wheeling, W. Va. - The Wheeling University Volleyball team (4-6, 0-0) hosted day one of the Atlantic Region Crossover Tournament on Friday with teams from the Mountain East Conference (MEC) and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) in action. The Cardinals played in a pair of games and earned a sweep of the day beating Pitt Johnstown and Shippensburg. Their first match was a clean sweep over the Mountain Cats 3-0, before beating Shippensburg 3-1.

Match 1: Wheeling 3, Pitt-Johnstown 0

The Cardinals offense was swinging right from the get-go in match one and took an early lead in the first set. An attack error got the Cardinals started and they rolled with it, scoring five of the first six points to take a 5-1 lead. Tylah Yeomans knocked down the first kill of her big day two points later and Wheeling was out to a 6-2 lead. UPJ battled back to make it a one point set, but another Mountain Cat attack error sent Wheeling on a short 3-0 run that gave them some breathing room at 11-7. Yeomans added another kill to her night a few points later and Wheeling hit their biggest run of the night at at 7-0 and pushed their lead to 18-9. The Cardinals would maintain that lead for the rest of the set and went on to win 25-19 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.

In the second set, the two teams went back and forth in what was the most competitive set of the night. The teams sat tied at 9-9 through the first 18 points of the set with both teams looking to break through. Mady Winters would be the one to turn the Cardinals fortune's around with a kill and the Cardinals took advantage. They scored five of the next six points in the set and built a 14-10 lead by the midway point. After two UPJ points, the Cardinals Riley Kindall picked up a kill to put the Cardinals back on the offensive As they push their advantage to 17-12. It was the first of several different runs for the Cardinals as they put UPJ on the ropes leading 24-17 late in the set. However, the Mountain Cats wouldn't go down rallying for three straight points to make it 24-20. However, a UPJ attack error would give wheeling the 25-20 set win and put them up 2-0 in the match.

Set three began with a Cassidet Wiley Jkill as the Cardinals took the lead for the third set in a row. Hit Johnstown was able to answer and took their biggest lead of the afternoon going ahead 6-3 through the first nine points. They extended that lead to 10-5 before head coach Christy Benner call the time out to get her women back on the right course. UPJ would get the first kill coming out of that time out, but the Cardinal battle back and tied the set at 13-13 at the halfway point. The Mountain Cats we're determined to say alive, and pushed back to Take a 19-15 lead and threatened to force a fourth set. Wiley was add it again with another kill that got wheeling back on track and they once again battled to tie things at 21-21. That would be the last time they were down for the rest of the match, as they scored four the final five points with a Riley Kindall kill securing the 25-23 set win and a 3-0 sweep of the match.

It was a big day for outside hitter Tylah Yeomans, who finished with a team high 18 kills on the afternoon. She continued the efficiency that she is shown all season hitting .389, making it four straight matches with a hitting percentage of .300 or higher this season. She was the only cardinal to reach double digit kills on the day, as Mady Winters followed her with seven kills and Katie Wilking added six of her own. Riley Kindall continued her strong defensive effort this season, tying for the team high with 13 digs. She tied with teammate Karly Niesen for the team lead, while Melia Gorrell added 13 digs of her own. Niesen rounded out the effort with 37 assists to lead the way. Wheeling would be back in action for the third game of the day when they battled Shippensburg.

Match 2: Wheeling 3, Shippensburg 1

After winning the first match 3-0, the Cardinals were looking to put together a clean sweep of the day. The Cardinals fell behind early in set one and ended up dropping the set 25-23 to fall behind 1-90. They would look to bounce back in the second set, and got the first two points thanks to an attack error and a kill from Tylah Yeomans. However, Shippensburg still maintained a slight advantage leading 8-6 in the early portion of the set. An attack error by the Raiders and a service ace by Melia Gorrell tied the set at 8-8. Katie Wilking gave the Cardinals the lead and they ran with it, building a 15-12 lead. After a Shippensburg point, Cassidet Wiley got Wheeling back on the board. The Wheeling offense would take it from there, scoring 10 of the last 16 points to win the set 25-19.

That second set saw the Cardinals at their most efficient in either of their matches, hitting .412 as a team and it would spark them for the rest of the night. That third set would see the Cardinals get their biggest margin of victory, and it started with a 6-1 run to start things off. Winters knock down the first kill of that run is the Cardinals look to take the advantage in the match. A pair of kills from Riley Kindall and another service ace courtesy of Gorrell gave the Cardinals their biggest lead of the night at 10-3. Wheeling would score 18 points during the set before Shippensburg got to the five point mark And by the later portion of the set it was 21-8 in favor of the Cardinals. Shippensburg what score seven straight points to stay alive, but the Cardinals wrapped it up with a Yeomans kill that gave them the 25-16 set win.

A Shippensburg attack air started set four, And once again the Cardinals jumped out to a big lead early. They scored 12 of the first 14 points in the set to lead 12-2 with Kindall and Winters leading the way with two kills each during the run. However, unlike the third set, shippensburg's battle back would be earlier as they got back into it making it 16-10 in the later portions. They would pull within four points of the Cardinals late in the set, making the score 23-19 before Yeomans made it set point with a kill. She would come back one more time and slammed down the match winning kill to give Wheeling a 25-19 set four win. The Cardinals would take their second match of the day 3-1 and evened their record on the year to 4-4.

After Tylah Yeomans let the Cardinals In the first match of the day, it was Riley Kindall's Time to shine in the second match. Kindall Finished with a team high 17 kills, setting a new career high, one more than her previous High of 16. Yeomans was right behind her with 16 kills of her own, and now has seven double digit kill matches in the first eight played by her team. Karly Niesen got back over the 50 assist mark, picking up 53 assists and leading Wheeling to a .290 hitting percentage as a team. Giana Mutersbaugh had her best game of the season at Libero, setting a career high with 23 digs to leave the effort. Niesen and Kindall also had strong defensive efforts, with 14 digs each on the night.

Day two of the 2023 Atlantic Region crossover tournament kicks off on Saturday with Wheeling playing two more matches against Slippery Rock ar noon and Clarion at 6 PM. You can watch both matches live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.