Buckhannon, W. Va. - As Mountain East Conference (MEC) South Division play began for the Wheeling University Volleyball team (13-7, 5-1) traveled to Buckhannon, West Virginia Friday night. They battled West Virginia Wesleyan in the first of two weekend matches and came away with a 3-0 victory. The difference was made on the Cardinal front line, with Wheeling out blocking the Bobcats 13-2 in the match as they moved to 5-1 in conference play.
The Bobcats came into the match on a hot streak, and early on the match was back and forth through the first 17 points of the set. The Cardinals were staked to a 9-8 lead when Samantha Comer knocked down a kill and the Cardinals went on their first big run of the set. They scored six of the next seven points and built a 15-9 lead, but the Bobcats continued to fight back. They got to within three points at 17-14 and it was a service error that got the ball back into Wheeling's court. This time, they went on a 5-0 run, including the first two blocs of the set courtesy of Comer, Olivia Batch, and Mady Winters, that extended the Cardinal's lead to 22-14. They set up set point at 24-15, but two more Bobcat points kept the set alive. It was a Karly Niesen kill that ended the set as the Cardinals took a 25-17 set win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set, it was the Bobcats that came out strong, scoring three of the first four points to take a 3-1 lead. The Cardinals put together an immediate answer, scoring six unanswered points as they pushed out to a 7-3 lead. The second set was the start of the block success, as the Cardinals picked up five of their 13 blocks in the set. Katie Wilking led the way, being a part of three of the five second set blocks and it was a set of runs for the Cardinals. They were up 23-9 late in the second set, courtesy of a 9-1 run and set up set point with a kill by Comer. West Virginia Wesleyan would save the set with a kill from Mackenzie Reynolds, but it would be Wilking that ended the set with a kill that gave the Cardinals a 25-11 win.
With Wheeling holding the 2-0 advantage, they would look to end it in three as they took a 7-3 lead. West Virginia Wesleyan wasn't prepared to go down without a fight, going on three separate 3-0 runs and they got to within one point of the Cardinals at 11-10. It would remain a one-point set up until the set sat at 15-14 in favor of Wheeling. An attack error would give the ball back to the Cardinals and they hit their biggest run of the day. They went on a 9-1 run that set up match point thanks to a kill by Katie Wilking. As they had done all night, West Virginia Wesleyan kept the match alive, with a Wheeling attack error and a kill by Olivia Albrecht to get to the 17-point mark. The match would come to an end when Niesen knocked down the final kill and the Cardinals won 25-17 and took the match 3-0.
Leading the way on both sides of the ball was sophomore Katie Wilking, who was the lone Cardinal to get into double digits with 11 kills while hitting .500 on the season. She also led the blocking game picking up seven block assists on the day, accounting for half of the blocks for the Cardinals on the day. Finishing behind her was Mady Winters, who finished with seven kills and three block assists, while Riley Kindall and Samantha Comer each picked up four block assists each on the day. Leading the Cardinal's back line was Olivia Batch, who finished with 10 digs on the night. It was the first of back-to-back matches for the Cardinals as they look to keep the momentum going.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Saturday, October 19th, when they take on Davis & Elkins with tip-off at 2 PM. You can watch the match live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
