Wheeling, W. Va. – As Mountain East Conference (MEC) North Division play kicked off on Friday, and the Wheeling University Volleyball team (8-7, 1-1) invited Fairmont State inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. The two teams battled throughout the night, needing five sets to find the winner, before the Cardinals came out victorious 3-2. Senior Mady Winters picked up her 1,000th career kill in the match as the Cardinals rallied for their first conference win of the season.
After battling back and forth throughout the night, it would all come down to the fifth and final set and the Cardinals would hit the ground running. They turned to freshman Olivia Batch, and she responded with the first kill of the set, sending the Cardinals on a 4-0 run. After a timeout, Fairmont State would break the run and score three straight points of their own to make it a one-point set. Wheeling would be able to hold the advantage and extended their lead to 9-5 late in the set. With the match hanging in the balance, it would be Batch who finished things off. After a Riley Kindall kill got the ball back, the Cardinals would score the final six points, with Batch picking up three of those kills. As match point came up, Batch would be the one to finish the match, as the Cardinals won 15-5 and took the match 3-2.
It would wrap up what was a career-best match for Batch, who finished with 20 kills on 53 total attacks on the night. She was the Cardinal's second most efficient hitter in the match at .283 and was one of three Cardinals hitting .250 or better in the match. Leading the way for the Cardinals was senior Riley Kindall, who knocked down 24 kills while hitting .250 on the day. It was also a big match for setter Karly Niesen, who finished with 57 assists, while Katie Wilking added a .333 hitting percentage on the day. Chylyn Pate would lead the back line defense, finishing with20 digs on the day and was one of five Cardinals who finished with double digit digs on the day. Kindall, Niesen, and Batch would all pick up double-doubles on the day to finish a big divisional win.
It was a battle from the get-go and that was apparent from set one when Fairmont State's Gabi Smith picked up the first kill of the day. Katie Wilking responded for the Cardinals and the teams would go back and forth on the first eight points of the night. The Cardinals would get the first advantage of the day, but it was Fairmont State who was able to pull away, going on a 6-1 run to open up their lead to 10-7. It was a lead they would not give up the rest of the set, as they picked up a 25-19 win and took a 1-0 lead in the match. Winters picked up her 1,000th career kill as she kept the team alive following Fairmont State setting up set point and she tried to carry that momentum into the second set.
It would be Batch who started the scoring in the second set, and the Cardinals scored five of the first seven points to take a 5-2 lead. However, Fairmont State battled back tying the set at 9-9 and that tie continued until it sat at 11-11. It would be two big runs by the Cardinals that made the difference, the first being started by Riley Kindall as the Cardinals went on a 5-1 run. A service error briefly derailed the run, but Faith Keifer got the ball back to Wheeling with a kill and they would go off on a 7-1 run that opened the scoring to a 23-14 Cardinal lead. After back-to-back Falcon points, a service error set up set point, before Riley Kindall knocked down the kill to give Wheeling a 25-16 set win and tied the match at 1-1.
As the match moved to set three, the Cardinals would get the early lead, scoring four of the first five points of the set. However, Fairmont State would slowly battle back and forced a win-by-two scenario. After trading the first two points of the extra points, Joey Borelle would smack down the final two kills and Fairmont State would take a 2-1 lead in the match. Set four would see Fairmont State jump out to a lead early and held it until they were up 13-10 midway through the set. Samantha Comer smacked down a kill to give the ball back to Wheeling and they went on a 12-3 run to make it a 22-15 set late. Five straight Fairmont State points would get the Falcons to within two, but a Karly Niesen kill and a Falcon attack error set up set point at 24-20. Chloe McDaniel briefly kept the Falcons alive with a kill, but a Winters kill ended the set with Wheeling winning a 25-21 set. The day ended with a fifth set win for the Cardinals as they move to 1-1 in MEC play.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Friday, October 4th, when they hit the road to face Point Park with tip-off at 7 PM.
