Wheeling, W. Va. – It was the start of a back-to-back weekend for the Wheeling University Volleyball team (7-5, 2-1) on Friday when they welcomed in Point Park to the Alma Grace McDonough Center. After a loss on Tuesday that saw the Cardinals finish with a negative hitting percentage, Wheeling came back strong with a .224 hitting percentage to start the weekend. The efficiency led the Cardinals to a 3-0 sweep of the Pioneers, led by a season High effort from Bella DeBarr at outside hitter.
After falling behind early against Fairmont State on Tuesday, Wheeling was looking to get out to a fast start and did just that. They would hit .300 as a team in the opening set, their highest mark of the night, And secured three of the first four points in the set. DeBarr would get her big day started right from the get-go by knocking down the opening kill to lead Wheeling on the run. She would knock down each of the first three kills for the Cardinals and combined with two Camryn Matus Service aces to give Wheeling a 9-2 lead early in the set. As the set went on, the Cardinal front line would make their presence known with Carmen Muzingo and Matus leading the way with three blocks each down the stretch. The Cardinals would keep Point Park in single digits until the score sat at 22-9 before letting their bench finish it out. Ava Green and Katie Wilking combined for a block assist to bring up set point, and it would be green that sent the final kill to the floor to give Wheeling the 25 – 10 set one win.
Wheeling was up 1-0 in the match and head coach Christy Benner would start to rotate in some of her younger players to get them work. Point Park would get out to their best start of the night in set two, taking a 4-2 early lead before the Cardinals started to battle back. DeBarr got Wheeling back on track with a kill to start a 5-1 Cardinal Run. It would be freshman Tatum Creps who gave Wheeling the lead And by the media timeout the Cardinals were staked to a 15-12 advantage. DeBarr continued to swing a hot hand during the run with three kills while the freshmen continued to make their presence felt. After giving the Cardinals the lead early, Creps would knock down three more kills throughout the set, including the one that made it set point at 24-15. Her freshman counterpart Green added a kill of her own, but it was another block assist from Muzingo and Matus that closed out the 25-16 set two win.
With a 2-0 lead on their side, Wheeling was looking to close out their third sweep of the year, and first since they picked up a 3-0 sweep of Ursuline on September 5. They started the third set the same way they ended the second set, and hit another early run to score 10 out of the first 13 points in the set. Wheeling's attack continued to be relentless, with four different Cardinals combining to knock down six kills in those 10 points, led by two from Matus. Point Park would not go down without a fight, bringing the score back to within four points before wheeling's Autumn King would get in on the action with two kills. The second of those kills brought the set to the media time out with Wheeling leading 15-8. With the Cardinals looking to close things out, DeBarr and Matus combined for three kills as Wheeling pushed their lead to 20-11 late. They would bring up match point six points later on a block assist by King and Aleithia Wilson, but once again the Pioneers would not go quietly. The pioneers would score four straight points before King brought the comeback a tenth to an end with a kill to secure the 25-17 set three win. It was the third sweep of the year for the Cardinals and helped move their Mountain East Conference (MEC) record to 2-1 on the season
Leading the effort for the Cardinals was Bella DeBarr, who knocked down a season? High 11 kills on the night. It was her first double-digit kill performance of the year, and marked the fourth time in the last five matches that she has had a hitting percentage of .200 or greater. Wheeling's most efficient hitter on the night was Camryn Matus, who knocked down eight kills while holding a .467 hitting percentage and finishing with 10 assists, Faith Keifer would lead the passing game with 16 assists, while Mara McDougal and Kendall Kupper tied for the team lead with 13 digs each.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Saturday, September 26, when they host Malone with first serve at 2 PM
