Wheeling, W. Va. – Over three days, some of the best Volleyball teams from both the Mountain East Conference (MEC) and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) competed against each other in the final preseason tournament of the year. On Sunday, the Wheeling and West Liberty athletic departments combined to announce the 2024 MEC/PSAC Atlantic Region Crossover All-Tournament team. Two Wheeling Volleyball players were represented on the list, with Riley Kindall and Karly Niesen both making the list.
The Cardinals played four matches across the three-day span, and were the only team across both Wheeling and West Liberty to finish the weekend 4-0. They played the kick-off match of the tournament on Thursday night, when they welcomed in Gannon. It was the top match of the weekend, as the two teams battled to five sets, but the Cardinals came out on top 3-2. Shippensburg was up next on Friday, and once again the match would go over the three-set mark. Shippensburg would end up taking the first set, but that is all they would get from the Cardinals as Wheeling went on to win 3-1. Saturday would see them play two matches, but they handled both defeating Slippery Rock 3-0 in the opening match of the event and followed with a 3-0 win over Clarion to round out the day.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was senior Riley Kindall, who was a leader on both sides of the ball for the Cardinals. She finished with 76 kills on 190 total attacks for a .305 hitting percentage across the four matches. Meanwhile, on defense, Kindall would lead the way with 55 digs and recorded a double-double in all five games. In the final game of the weekend, Kindall would rech a career milestone, knocking down her 1,000th career kill in the second set against Gannon. With the kill, she becomes the only active player on the roster to reach both the 1,000 career dig mark and the 1,000 career kill mark on the season. She leads the Cardinals with six double-doubles this season and heads into conference play looking to keep up her success.
Karly Niesen has been a steady presence at setter for the Cardinals throughout her career, and continued that this past weekend. She racked up 176 assists across the four matches while adding a season-high 17 digs in the match against Gannon to start the week. With Niesen setting the ball, the Cardinals had a .300 hitting percentage or better in two of the four matches and had at least a .247 mark in three of the four games. She is a two-time MEC Player of the Year award winner and one of just three Cardinals to reach the 5,000 career assist mark. She enters conference play sitting at 5,263 career assists and is chasing down the All-Time career assists record. Entering Friday's match, Niesen needs just 637 digs to reach the record of 5,920, held by former Cardinal Andrea Thobe. She has been consistent throughout her career and looks to continue her consistency for the Cardinals.
In total, 10 athletes from the eight teams that competed in the 2024 MEC/PSAC Atlantic Region Crossover were honored, with each team receiving at least one honoree. Below is the entire list of honorees:
Riley Kindall (Wheeling)
Karly Niesen (Wheeling)
Bella Dart (West Liberty)
Cassidy Snider (Clarion)
Joey Borelle (Fairmont St.)
Kylie Snyder (Shippensburg)
Bengisu Arslan (Gannon)
Erica Selfridge (Slippery Rock)
Hannah Steele (West Virginia St.)
Outstanding Libero: Haley Feldderjohann (Clarion)
The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Friday, September 27th, when they host West Virginia State with tip-off at 7 PM.
