Wheeling, W. Va. – During the regular season, the Wheeling University Volleyball team (25-9, 12-2) took one of their two Mountain East Conference (MEC) losses to the University of Charleston. It was time for revenge as the two teams met in the MEC Semifinal on Friday night, and the Cardinals got that win back to knock off the Golden Eagles. Wheeling would pick up a 3-0 sweep inside the Walker Convocation Center, advancing them to their 12^th straight MEC Championship match.

Early on, the Golden Eagles got the better of the Cardinals, scoring five of the first seven points of the night.  Head Coach Christy Benner called a timeout, and the Cardinals responded as Mady Winters knocked down a kill. Charleston was out to an 8-5 lead, and the tides would turn as Katie Wilking knocked down a kill. The Cardinals went on a 6-0 run to take an 11-8 lead and after that they would never look back. Charleston would battle back to within one point of the Cardinals and would end up tying things up at 19-19 late in the set. It would remain tied at 22-22 and Karly Niesen knocked down a kill to give Wheeling the lead. They set up set point at 24-22, but Charleston's Patrycja Majors kept it alive. It would be Samantha Comer that knocked down the final kill and the Cardinals took a 25-23 set one win.

That would set the tone throughout the night, as the Cardinals continued their success into set two. Wilking knocked down the first kill of the night and Wheeling would take a 3-0 advantage. The middle Hitters continued swinging early in the match, with Winters and Comer each adding kills as the Cardinals got out to a 7-2 lead. They extended that lead to 9-2 before Charleston slowly chipped away at the lead. They got as close as 11-9, before Olivia Batch started a 4-0 run with a kill. They took a 15-9 advantage and built that lead to 20-13 late in the set. The Cardinals would continue holding the lead and a Wilking kill set up set point at 24-16. Charleston would again add one more point, but an attack error would end the set as Wheeling won 25-17 to take a 2-0 advantage.

The final set of the night started with a Kindall kill, but the teams battled back and forth early on. The score sat at 5-3 Wheeling after eight points and it would sit at a two-point set until the score sat at 8-6 Cardinals. Things opened up on a Cami Black kill that sent the Cardinals on a 4-0 run and they went out to a 12-6 lead. That would be their biggest run of the stretch, but they continued to pull away from the Golden Eagles, with the team building a 20-15 lead. Wilking would knock down a kill to get another Cardinal run started, this time a 4-0 run that brought up match point at 24-15. Charleston would stay alive with another point, but the match would come to an end as Kindall knocked down the final kill and the Cardinals won the set 25-16 and took the match 3-0.

Leading the way for the Cardinals was Riley Kindall, who picked up a double-double with 14 kills and 16 digs on the day. She would hit an efficient .329 on the night as she rounded out her best postseason performance so far. Katie Wilking would get into double digit kills, knocking down 11 and finishing with a .400 or better hitting percentage for the seventh straight match. Karly Niesen would add to her record setting assist total, finishing with 35 assists and 11 digs to get the team's second double-double of the day. Samantha Comer added nine kills to round out the offense, as the Cardinals hit .265 as a team to round out the day.

The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Saturday, November 23^rd, when they battle West Virginia State in the MEC Championship match.