Wheeling, W. Va. - With five matches to go in the regular season, the Wheeling University Volleyball team (14-10, 8-4) continued their run of four straight road matches on Friday. They traveled down to Charleston, West Virginia in what would be a back and forth five set battle against the University of Charleston. Despite a career-best day by freshman Ava Green, the Cardinals would fall to the Golden Eagles 3-2, including dropping a fifth set that went to a win-by-two scenario.
Green would pace the Cardinals with the best match of her young career, setting a new career-best with 17 kills on the night. It was an efficient outing for the freshman, who knocked down the 17 kills on 40 total attacks, while committing just five attack errors for a .300 hitting percentage. She was one of two Cardinals to hit double digit kills on the night, with Autumn King being the other, adding 12 kills in the effort. The passing game continued to be led by the combination of Camryn Matus and Faith Keifer, with both players recording a double-double on the evening. Matus would lead the Cardinals with 22 assists, while finishing with a season-high 14 digs, while Keifer finished with 20 digs and 18 assists. The back line would see four different Cardinals finish with double-digit digs, led by Mara McDougal, who finished with 26 digs on the day.
The Cardinals would take charge early on, using a Golden Eagle attack error to send them on a 6-0 run to start the set. A pair of service aces by Keifer would lead the charge, while Green knocked down the first of her 17 kills in the effort. The Cardinals would take a 6-0 lead early, but Charleston was able to battle back and scored 11 of the next 15 points to take an 11-10 lead. That Charleston lead wouldn't last long, as Green got the ball back in Wheeling's court with a kill and the Cardinals went on a 10-2 run that made it a 20-13 Wheeling lead. Green would knock down four kills on the run, and put them in the driver's seat for an early lead. Charleston would respond with three straight point of their own late, but a setting error would bring up set point at 24-18. Madison Easton would keep Charleston alive for one more point, but it would be Autumn King that brought things to an end with a kill to give Wheeling the 25-19 set one win.
The script would be flipped in set two, with Charleston taking the early lead, this time a 6-1 advantage. Wheeling would get back to within three points at 10-7, before Charleston iced the set with a 13-3 run that made it 23-10. Bella DeBarr would knock down a kill and Olivia Batch would add a service ace as part of a 3-0 run, but those would be the final three Cardinal points as Charleston picked up the 25-13 set two win to tie the match at 1-1. Wheeling would get into the driver seat early in set three, with Matus knocking down a kill that sent them on a 4-2 run to start things off. The two teams would remain within three points of each other until Wheeling broke the set open. Green would get things started with a kill and the Cardinals went off on a 10-3 run that made it a 20-11 Wheeling lead. Green would almost single-handedly end the set two points later, picking up three straight kills before turning the final two over to Tatum Creps to give the Cardinals a 25-13 set three win.
Wheeling would hold a 2-1 lead in the match, before the two teams went back and forth in a set of runs in set four. Wheeling got out to an early 6-2 lead through the first eight points, but an 8-1 Charleston run would flip the scoreboard late, giving Charleston a 20-17 lead. Wheeling would tie the set at 23-23 late, but a Kate Strong kill had Charleston set up with set point at 24-23. A block assist by Aleithia Wilson and Matus would keep Wheeling alive and force a win-by-two scenario, before Charleston knocked down the final two points to earn the 26-24 set four win. It forced a fifth set, where Wheeling was out to an early 7-1 lead. Katie Wilking and Green would each add kills, as the Cardinal defense forced four attack errors during the run. The Cardinals had Charleston on the ropes, bringing up set point on an Autumn King kill at 14-11, but it would be the Golden Eagles that closed things out. Charleston would score the final five points of the set, and the Golden Eagles would earn the 16-14 set five win and the 3-2 victory in the match.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Monday, October 26, when they travel to Frostburg State with first serve at 7 PM.
