Wheeling, W. Va. – The final stretch of Mountain East Conference (MEC) North play kicked off for the Wheeling Volleyball team (12-12, 7-3) on Tuesday night when they welcomed in Fairmont State. The Falcons took advantage of some early opportunities and, despite the Cardinals best efforts to battle back throughout the night, it wasn't enough as they fell 3-1. The Cardinals dropped too 7-3 in conference play and, thanks to a Charleston loss to West Virginia Wesleyan, Wheeling is able to stay alive in the race to host the MEC Tournament.
Wheeling would take an early 2-1 lead in set one, I would stay right with them. They tied things up 4-4 on a Chloe McDaniel kill This started a 4-0 Fairmont State swing. It pushed their lead 7-4 and they would never give up that lead to the set. The Cardinals would get closed on several occasions, trailing by scores of 9-8, 10-13, and 16-18, but we're never able to overdraft Falcons. Wait in the set Fairmont State had a 23-17 lead And whaling put together their best attack of the set. Aleithia Wilson started the run with a kill and Katie Wilking got up for a pair of blocks to make it a 23-20 set late. However, the Falcons would knock down the final two points of the set, with a Cardinal attack error bringing the set to his final score of 25-23. The Cardinals found themselves behind 1-0 early and would have to battle back the rest of the night.
Set two would follow a similar script to set one, with Wheeling getting out to an early lead before a Fairmont State run opened things up. This time, it was a 5-1 run that moved it to a 7-4 set, and Fairmont State would once again hold the lead throughout the pick up a 25-18 win. Wheeling was down 2-0 in the match and tried to keep things alive as they headed into set three. Fairmont State would get out to a 3-1 advantage, but a pair of Falcon attack errors would open up the door for the Cardinals. It would be a 7-2 run that helped Wheeling build the advantage, with Bella DeBarr, Olivia Batch, and Katie Wilking all picking up kills during the run. The Falcons would slowly chip away, getting as close as 18-15 before DeBarr got the ball on the Cardinal's side for good. Wheeling would score the final seven points of the set, with a block assist by Ava Dickerson and Camryn Matus ending things at 25-15.
Wheeling had built some momentum by bringing the score to 2-1, but Fairmont State got it right back on an 11-3 run to start set four. DeBarr would be the one to break the run with a kill, and the Cardinals would slowly cut into the Falcon lead. DeBarr and Dickerson were the ones that took the lead in the comeback effort, with DeBarr finishing with three kills and Dickerson adding two as the Cardinals got back to within 21-19. The teams would go back and forth on the next two points, with both front lines picking up blocks, but back-to-back Falcon points brough up match point for the Falcons at 24-20. An attack error momentarily got the ball back to the Cardinals, but Josie Nobbe would bring the set to an end with a kill. They picked up the 25-21 set four win, and a 3-1 victory for the match.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Bella DeBarr, who finished with 11 kills on 28 total attacks. She finished as the team's most efficient hitter, putting up a .250 hitting percentage, and added two digs to her effort. The other Cardinal to reach the double digit kill mark was Camryn Matus, who added 12 kills and three block assists to round out her day. In the passing game, Faith Keifer would lead the effort with 27 assists while Lexi Duplessis would add 16 assists. On the defensive side, Megan Platt would lead the effort with 21 digs while Mara McDougal (18) and Olivia Batch (15) would each hit double digit digs in the effort.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Friday, October 31st, when they host the University of Charleston with first serve at 7 PM.
