Wheeling, W. Va. – On September 5, the 2015 Wheeling University National Champion Volleyball team will be enshrined in the Wheeling Athletics Hall of Fame. The current Cardinals are celebrating by hosting their first-ever Wheeling Volleyball Alumni tournament September 4 – 5 in the Alma Grace McDonough Center. It will also be the program's alumni weekend, with five former Cardinals set to come back as coaches for their respective teams.
"We are So excited to welcome back so many alumni for a special weekend inside the McDonough Center," said Benner. " as a coach, it is always wonderful to welcome your girls back to campus, but it is Even more special to get a chance to coach against some of these great young women. I'm thrilled that the national championship team is heading into the Hall of Fame and can't wait to celebrate with everyone throughout the weekend."
Headlining the weekend will be the induction of the 2015 National Championship team into the Wheeling Athletics Hall of Fame. The group set a winning precedent for Wheeling Athletics, winning the first national title for the department in dominant fashion. After claiming both the Mountain East Conference (MEC) and Atlantic Regional title, the Cardinals headed to the University of Tampa to play in the Elite 8. The run would start against the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, with Wheeling claiming a 3-1 win to start the weekend. In the Final Four, it was a match-up with Western Washington, which the Cardinals swept in dramatic fashion with a 27-25 set three win giving them the 3-0 win. The National Championship match came against Palm Beach Atlantic, with two of the three sets going into a win-by-two scenario. The Cardinals would come out the victors in both of the sets, and swept the Sailfish 3-0 to clinch the National Title. That team would place five on the All-MEC team with Kayce Krucki winning Player of the Year and Jessica Thobe winning Libero of the Year. Haley Kindall (now Case) and Andrea Thobe would round out the award season, with each taking home All-American Awards to round out the big year.
The second part of the weekend will see the Cardinals welcome back their alumni, with five returning as either head or assistant coaches for their respective programs. Wheeling will welcome in Ursuline, Point Park, CAL-U, and UINDY across the two day stretch, with three of the four teams featuring at least one Wheeling alumni as a member of their coaching staff. UINDY's coaching staff features two former Cardinals, with Head Coach Haley Case (class of '17) and Assistant Coach Riley Kindall (class of '25) lead a Greyhound program that received votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Preseason Poll. Ursuline College is the other program with two Cardinal alumni on staff, with Rachel Tolbert (class of '15) serving as head coach and Allonda Watkins (class of '23) serving as her assistant. The final Cardinal alumni on the weekend comes from CAL-U head coach Audrey Emerich (class of '22), who made her first return to the Alma Grace McDonough Center as Head Coach a season ago.
Between the Alumni in attendance are a total of 14 All-Conference awards, five conference Player of the Year honors, 18 All-Region honors, two Atlantic Regional Player of the Year honors, and 12 All-American honors. Francis and Case were both named Atlantic Regional Player of the Year during their time with the Cardinals, with Francis winning the MEC Libero of the Year award in each season that she suited up for Wheeling. Case and Kindall are both among the program's players with 1,000 career kills, and Francis is the program's all-time digs record holder with 3485 during her five seasons. It will be an especially big weekend for Case, who is also going into the Hall of Fame with the 2015 National Championship team, helping lead Wheeling to the first national title in school history. Of the five alumni in attendance, Benner has coached against Tolbert and Emerich, playing each in one match and holding a 2-0 record. Each of those meeting came during the 2025 season, with the alumni looking to get revenge against their former coach.
The weekend schedule features four matches on Friday and four matches on Saturday, with both days beginning at noon. September 4 begins with Ursuline taking on Point Park in the opening match at 12 PM, followed by CAL-U taking on UINDY at 2 PM, the first meeting between a pair of Cardinal alumni. The Wheeling vs. Wheeling rivalry continues into match three, when former teammates Case and Tolbert meet as Ursuline takes on UINDY at 4 PM. The Cardinals round out the first day of competition with their first match of the tournament at 6 PM, when the battle CAL-U at 6 PM. Saturday's festivities will begin in Troy Theater, with the 2026 Wheeling Athletics Hall of Fame Class Induction at 10 AM. Case and her teammates will be honored as the third team ever selected to the Athletics Hall of Fame. Back in the McDonough Center, it will be Wheeling kicking off the day two action, when they host Ursuline at 12 PM. Point Park takes on UINDY in the second match at 2 PM, before CAL-U takes on Ursuline at 4 PM. Wheeling will bring the celebration to an end, with the Cardinals battling UINDY to round out the tournament .
The Wheeling Volleyball Alumni/Hall of Fame Tournament begins Friday, September 4, when Ursuline takes on Point Park at noon.
