Wheeling, W. Va. - With the 2025 NCAA DII Volleyball National Championship coming up this weekend, the postseason awards for the 2025 season wrapped up on Wednesday. The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) released their annual All-America teams and the Wheeling University Volleyball team had two players earn honors. Junior Katie Wilking and freshman Camryn Matus each earned Honorable Mention All-American honors after both led the Cardinal's offensive push throughout the season.
The Wheeling Volleyball team continued their winning ways after a tough non-conference schedule to start the year. The Cardinals finished the regular season 16-13 overall, including a 10-4 mark in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play. It was enough to earn them a share of the MEC North Division title, splitting the crown with West Liberty and Fairmont State, and the Cardinals entered the MEC Volleyball Tournament as the #3 seed from the North. Their run would come to an abrupt end, falling to the eventual MEC Champions the University of Charleston 3-2 in the Quarterfinals, but their postseason award run has been a successful one. The Cardinals had four players earn a spot on the annual All-MEC lists, and added two more honorees on the AVCA's All-Region list. Despite falling short of the NCAA DII Atlantic Regional Championships, the young Cardinals got good experience that they can build off of on the court.
The first honoree was junior Katie Wilking, who is taking home the first All-American honor of her career. The junior middle blocker earned First Team All-MEC honors for her work on the Cardinal front line, and coupled that with an Honorable Mention All-Region award. Wilking was one of the most efficient hitters in the conference this past season, sitting third in the conference with a .325 mark, knocking down 257 kills on 622 total attacks, while finishing with just 55 attack errors. Her season-best effort would come against CAL-U on September 20th, when she knocked down 18 kills on 27 total attacks to put together a .556 hitting percentage. Along with her success on the offensive side of the ball, Wilking was one of the team's premiere defenders, leading the way with 82.0 total blocks. She finished with 14 solo and 68 assisted, ranking 10th in the conference in both total blocks and solo blocks, while sitting eighth in block assists.
The other Cardinal honoree was freshman outside hitter Camryn Matus, who wrapped up a big award season with the an Honorable Mention All-American honor. Matus was named the 2025 MEC Freshman of the Year this past season, while also taking home both First Team All-MEC and AVCA All-Regional honors. She led all freshman in the MEC with 297 kills on the season, while sitting fourth overall in the conference in kills. She would add to that a .220 hitting percentage, having only 126 errors in 778 attempts, while finishing tied for third on the team with 59 assists during the season. She put together a historic night in an October 7th match-up with Frostburg State, where she picked up the first triple double in over a decade for the Cardinals. She would finish with 10 kills and 10 digs, while being the team's top setter with 23 assists in the effort. Matus would finish with 18 double digit kill efforts on the season and looks to continue building her success on the court.
The 2025 AVCA All-Americans list included 42 players – 14 on the first, second, and third teams from 29 schools. The list would also include 117 Honorable Mention selections, with two programs having three players on those teams. The MEC had six honorees on the list, with all six earning spots on the AVCA Honorable Mention team. Fairmont State led the way with three honorees, followed by Wheeling with two, and Charleston with one. The 2025 All-America selections are made by the AVCA DII All-America Committee, consisting of head coaches from across the country.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team continues their off-season push as they make preparations for the 2026 season.
