Wheeling, W. Va. - The annual "The Battle for Wheeling" came to the Alma Grace McDonough Center on Tuesday night as the Wheeling University Volleyball team (12-7, 4-1) hosted West Liberty. After dropping a set early, the Cardinals came storming back, winning the final three sets during the night as they walked away with a 3-1 victory. After falling in set one, the Cardinal's hit .340 or better in each of the final three sets to leapfrog the Hilltoppers in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) North standings.
In set one, West Liberty would get the first point and catapulted themselves to the lead scoring nine of the first 10 points. After Wheeling timeout, Riley Kindall knocked down a kill that sent them on a 6-0 run that got them to within two points of the Hilltoppers. The back and forth would begin and at the end of the set, Wheeling had a 21-20 lead thanks to a Kindall kill. West Liberty would score the final five points of the set and took set one 25-21. After talking in between sets, it was Wheeling who came out with fire in set two. Mady Winters would knock down a kill to start the set and Wheeling would score 13 of the first 14 points to get out to a 13-1 advantage. Katie Wilking and Winters both played big on the run with four and three kills respectively. The Cardinal defense held strong throughout the set and the Cardinals picked up a 25-10 win that tied the match at 1-1.
With each team getting out to big leads in the first two sets both teams got out to hot starts and the third set would see both go back and forth. West Liberty would knock down the first kill of the set and Winters responded and tied the set at 1-1. The score would sit at 4-3 in favor of the Cardinals and it would be Winters who once again got things started. She sent her team on an 8-0 run that opened up the scoring to 11-3 in favor of the Cardinals. They would extend that lead to as much as 21-6 late in the set before West Liberty broke the run with a Riley Cudnik kill before Samantha Comer got things back on track and the Cardinals set up set point. It was a West Liberty attack error that ended the set and gave Wheeling a 25-7 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
Set four would once again start with a Wheeling run as Olivia Batch knocked down a kill that put them ahead 4-0. West Liberty responded with a 4-1 run of their own and the two teams remained within one point of each other. Things would be tied at 14-14 midway through the set and it would be Wilking that put the match officially out of reach. The sophomore sent the team on a 6-1 run that opened the scoring to 20-15. West Liberty would try to stay alive, getting as close as 21-17, but Olivia Batch knocked down a kill and the Cardinals would set up match point at 24-17 with a Batch service ace. Comer would knock down the final kill of the set and the Cardinals went on to win 25-17 and took the match 3-1.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Riley Kindall, who finished with 13 kills and 11 digs on the day. She led the team in kills and finished second in digs to pick up her team-high 11 double-doubles this season. She was one of three Cardinals to finish in double digit kills on the day, with Mady Winters and Katie Wilking each picking up 10 kills on the day. Karly Niesen once again led the offense, finishing with 42 assists and added a season-high four kills in the match while helping the offense hitting .302 on the night. On defense, Chylyn Pate would lead the Cardinals with 17 digs while Olivia Batch added 16 digs of her own on the day.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Friday, October 18th, when they hit the road to face West Virginia Wesleyan with tip-off at 7 PM.
