Wheeling, W. Va. - The Wheeling University Volleyball team (16-13, 10-4) wrapped up the regular season on Friday night with a five-set classic in "The Battle for Wheeling" against West Liberty. Unfortunately, they came out on the losing end of the 3-2 match-up and dropped to 10-4 in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play. On Friday night, the conference announced the official seeding and Quarterfinal match-ups for the 2025 MEC Volleyball Tournament, hosted by West Virginia Wesleyan, running from Thursday, November 20th through Saturday November 22nd.
The regular season came to an end with five teams tied with four losses, and several tiebreaking scenarios were invoked. In the end, the Cardinals would finish as the #3 seed in the North Division, and will play in the opening match of the tournament on Thursday at noon. West Virginia Wesleyan was named the MEC South Division Champions as well as the host site for the 2025 MEC Volleyball Tournament. In the North Division, West Liberty University clinched the MEC North Division title with the win over Wheeling, invoking a three-way tie in the division. In the end, West Liberty took the top spot, followed by Fairmont State in the #2 seed and Wheeling taking the #3 seed. The top four seeds in each division qualify for the MEC Tournament, with the lone exception being if the #5 team from the south is better than the #4 team from the North. That was the case this season, with Glenville State taking the #4 seed in the north, going 5-10 in conference compared to a 4-10 mark for Frostburg State.
The MEC Quarterfinal round is scheduled for Thursday, November 20th, with four matches being played. Wheeling will be playing in the first match of the tournament when they take on #2S Charleston in the noon match. That will be followed by #1N West Liberty against #4S Concord at 2:30 PM, with the winners of those two quarterfinal matches squaring off in the semifinal round. On the other side of the bracket, #1S West Virginia Wesleyan will battle #4N Glenville State at 5 PM, while #3S West Virginia State battles #2N Fairmont State in the final match at 7:30 PM. The semifinal will be played on Friday, November 21st, with the first match at 5 PM followed by the second match at 7:30 PM, and the MEC Championship will be played Saturday, November 22nd at 6 PM.
The Cardinals had a strong run through their 2025 MEC schedule, and started strong with four straight wins to open the schedule. Their first conference loss would come at the hands of West Liberty on October 14th, and they followed that up with a 3-0 sweep at the hands of West Virginia Wesleyan. They would finish out the MEC South portion of their schedule with thre wins and hit the final stretch sitting at 7-2 in conference play. They began the final stretch against the MEC North Division with a loss to Fairmont State, but bounced back with wins over Charleston, Frostburg State, and Point Park to head into the final match of the regular season with a one-game lead in the division. However, it wasn't meant to be as West Liberty picked up the 3-2 win and claimed the MEC North Division Title.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team starts their 2025 MEC Volleyball Tournament run on Thursday, November 20th, when they take on the #2 seed from the North the University of Charleston at noon.
