Fairmont, W. Va. - The 2025 season ended in defeat for the Wheeling University Volleyball team (19-9, 12-4) when they dropped a five-set heartbreaker to the University of Charleston in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Quarterfinals. Flashforward a year, and the Cardinals once again found themselves taking on the Golden Eagles in the MEC Quarterfinals inside the Joe Feaster Center on the campus of Fairmont State University. It was a back-and-forth match, with two of the three sets going into win-by-two scenarios, but the Cardinals would get the upper hand, earning a straight sets sweep to advance to Friday's MEC Semifinal match.
Charleston would start the night strong, scoring five of the first seven points in the opening set, in what turned out to be a common theme across the three sets. It was Wheeling's Aleithia Wilson that got the Cardinals back on track, and Wheeling would score five of the next six points and took a 7-6 lead 13 points in. However, the Golden Eagles continued to threaten, taking a 16-11 seed just past the media timeout thanks to an 8-2 run. Wheeling had a run of their own in store after a Charleston service error, as they scored six straight points to get back to within one point of Charleston. The Cardinal block would come up big during the run, and Autumn King would knock down the final kill to give Wheeling a 17-16 advantage. The lead would change hands twice more before heading to the first win-by-two scenario of the day. With the score sitting at 25-25, Camryn Matus would knock down a kill, and a block assist from King and Katie Wilking secured the 27-25 set one win.
Wheeling led 1-0 in the match, but still had work to do as set two began with Charleston once again scoring five of the first six points in the set. It was once again King that put the run to an end, and Wheeling would battle the rest of the set. Despite bringing the score even at 10-10 early on, the Cardinals would not hold a lead in the set until late. With Charleston leading 21-19, freshman Tatum Creps would get the Cardinals back on track, and they hit their biggest run of the night. The Cardinals scored five of the next six points, aided by three Golden Eagle attack errors, and it would bring up set point at 24-22. The Golden Eagles would stay alive thanks to a kill from Divine Muo, but Wilson and Matus would go up for the block and the Cardinals took the set 25-23. They took a 2-0 lead on the afternoon, but looked to avoid the reverse sweep that they would suffer a season ago, knocking them out of the postseason.
Charleston had that in mind, and took the early lead for the third set in a row, leading 4-1 after five points. The Cardinals would not let things get too out of hand, with an attack error giving Wheeling the ball back and a Kendall Kupper ace leading them on a short 3-0 stretch to tie it at 4-4. The Cardinal captains would get Wheeling in front, trading two kills each as part of a 4-0 run, and a King kill made it 9-7 in favor of the Cardinals. It was the Golden Eagle's turn to respond, and respond they did thanks to a 7-3 run that flipped the scoreboard following the media timeout. With Wheeling trailing 17-14, it would be Matus once again righting the ship with a pair of kills and it would be all tied up at 17-17. Charleston would have Wheeling on the ropes late, bringing up set point at 24-23, but Josie Schroder kept the set alive with a kill to force the second win-by-two scenario of the day. Mara McDougal would keep the energy going with a service ace and a Charleston attack error would bring the match to an end, with Wheeling earning the 26-24 set three win and advancing to the semifinal round.
Leading the way for Wheeling was sophomore Camryn Matus, who picked up her third triple double of the season, and just the fourth across all of NCAA DII Volleyball. She would lead the team with 11 kills on the night, while sitting second with 14 assists, and tying for the team lead with 12 digs. Finishing right behind her was Ava Green, who added nine kills across 34 total attacks, while Autumn King knocked down eight kills on 32 total attacks. Katie Wilking would be the most efficient hitter, knocking down seven kills to the tune of a .412 hitting percentage, while Faith Keifer led the passing game with 24 assists. Joining Matus for the team lead on the defensive side was Keifer, who recorded the double-double, and Kendall Kupper, who finished with 12.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Thursday, November 12, when they take on the winner of #1 S Concord and #3 N Frostburg State at 4:30 PM
