Wheeling, W. Va. – After the thrill of a Five set win to close out day one, the Wheeling University Volleyball team (3-3, 0-0) came back for day two of the Wheeling Alumni/Hall of Fame tournament looking to ride that momentum. The 2015 National Champion Volleyball Team was inducted into the Wheeling Athletics Hall of Fame in the morning, and the Cardinals would end up splitting the day to round out a celebratory weekend. Wheeling would take down Ursuline College in match one 3-0, before taking a straight sets sweep at the hands of UINDY to round out the tournament.
Match 1: Wheeling 3, Ursuline 0
Riding the momentum of their five set thriller with CAL-U, the Cardinals began day two of tournament play against Ursuline. Head Coach Christy Benner would be facing two more of her alumni in Arrows Head Coach Rachel Tolbert and Assistant Allonda Watkins. Wheeling came out swinging early, with a Brooklyn Brennan service ace sending them on a 4-0 run to start the set. Ursuline answered with two points of their own, but Camryn Matus got them going again with a kil as they pushed their advantage to 7-2. The Arrows were able to fight back and keep the Cardinals close, tying things up at 12-12 thanks to a 10-5 run. However, it wouldn't stay tied for long as an Autumn King kill would send the Cardinals on a 6-1 run that opened things up at 18-13. Ursuline responded with a 5-0 run of their own to tie the set, but the Cardinal's brought up set point at 24-20 thanks to a Carmen Muzingo kill. The Arrows would keep things alive for one more point, but a service error would give the Cardinals a 25-21 set one win.
After battling throughout the first set, Ursuline would get the early advantage in set two, thanks to a 4-1 run. Senior Katie Wilking would stop the run with a kill, and Matus followed her up, but Ursuline maintained the lead at 6-3. Ursuline would lead by as much as 12-9 before an Arrows service error got the ball back into the Cardinal's court. They would take advantage with kills by King and Aleithia Wilson starting a 6-2 Cardinal run that put them in front 17-15. After Ursuline was able to calm things down, Isabella Faro continued her strong weekend, knocking down two kills that would lead the Cardinals on a 5-0 run and made it a 22-16 score. Ursuline responded with three of their own to get to within 22-19, but Faro once again led the way with a kill and an attack error to bring up set point. Wilking would go up for a block to finish the set and the Cardinals took it 25-19 to take a 2-0 lead on the night.
The Cardinals would head into set three looking for their second sweep of the season, but the Arrows would not make it easy. They scored four of the first five points before a service error gave the Cardinals the ball back. Wheeling would take the lead back with four straight points, including a Wilson service ace that made it 5-4. The two teams would end up trading the next seven points as the score sat at 8-8 before a Wilking kill got the Cardinals going again. It sent them on a 5-1 run and, after a King kill they would lead 14-10 midway through the set. Their lead was trimmed to two at 17-15, before Faro swung again to get Wheeling going. Her kill launched the Cardinals on a 6-0 run and two points later Wilking would knock down a kill to bring up match point at 24-16. Ursuline would stay alive for one more point, but Autumn King finished it out with a kill to give the Cardinals the 25-17 set three win and the 3-0 sweep of the match.
Leading the way for the Cardinals for the second straight match was Isabella Faro, who finished with 11 kills on 35 total attacks. She would just miss out on her second straight double double, finishing with six digs to round out the day. Camryn Matus and Autumn King finished right behind her, with nine and eight kills respectively, while Brooklyn Brennan and Faith Keifer split the passing game, with Brennan finishing with 19 assists and Keifer adding 11. On the defensive end, Mara McDougal finished with 14 digs, while Kendall Kupper added 10 to round out the day. With a break in the middle part of the day, the Cardinals would look to come back strong in the night cap as they tried to sweep the Alumni/Hall of Fame weekend.
Match Two: UINDY 3, Wheeling 0
In the final match of the tournament, Benner would face off against one of the members of the 2015 National Championship team, Haley Case and the UINDY Greyhounds. After the entire Hall of Fame class was honored in a pregame ceremony, UINDY came out hot, scoring the first three points of the set and five of the first seven points to take an early 5-2 lead. A couple of UINDY attack errors, coupled with a Katie Wilking kill would get Wheeling back to within one point at 6-5. It would once again be a Wilking kill that would help get the Cardinals their first lead, sending Wheeling on a 6-3 run as they took a 12-10 advantage midway through the set. UINDY would get the ball back and took the lead for good with a 9-2 swing that made the set score 19-14 late. A kill by Camryn Matus and a service ace for Faith Keifer would get two of those nine points back, and kills by Isabella Faro and Ava Green had Wheeling staying alive late with the score sitting at 23-20. UINDY's Makenzie Pflederer would bring up set point on the very next point, and a Maddie Lynch kill would bring the set to its final score of 25-23
That first set saw the Cardinals put together their best hitting percentage of the day at .156, but the Greyhounds just kept getting better. UINDY would end up scoring six of the first eight points and set two, with a Matus kill and a Brooklyn Brennan service ace serving as the two Cardinal points. Matus would knock down three kills early in the set to help keep the Cardinals within four at 10-6. It would be a Riley Lane kill that opened the door for UINDY's biggest run of the day that saw them score nine of the next 11 points as their lead swelled to 19-8. A Greyhound attack error brought a brief end to the run, but UINDY would find themselves ahead 21-9 late in the set. Wheeling was down but not out, as a few mistakes by the Greyhounds kept them alive. After UINDY had set point at 24-13, Ava Green would add a kill that kept the Cardinals alive. That life would only last for one more point as Maddie Lynch knocked down the final kill that gave UINDY the 25-14 set two win.
Wheeling was looking to stay alive in set three and, for the first time in the match, they would score the first point of the set when Aleithia Wilson knocked down a kill. They would end up taking a 3-2 lead early in the set before UINDY once again got out in front and held a 6-4 lead. The Greyhound offense was relentless throughout the match, with the team hitting .300 or better in each of the three sets and the Cardinals would once again have to play from behind trailing 15-9. As the UINDY lead grew to 20-11, The Cardinals would make one final push to keep the match alive. A service error would give Wheeling the ball back and an Ava Green kill capped off a 4-2 Cardinal run. Aleithia Wilson would knock down a kill that made it 23-16 but match point was a foot as UINDY's Lynch made it 24-16. Wilson would have one more kill in her, but it wouldn't be enough as Wheeling fell 25-17 and lost the match 3-0 to round out the weekend.
Leading the offensive effort for the Cardinals was Camryn Matus, who knocked down seven kills on 25 total attacks. It was the second time on the weekend that she led the offense, after leading them to a five-set win on Friday, wrapping up a strong offensive weekend for the sophomore. Finishing right behind her was Isabella Faro, who wrapped up her big offensive weekend with six kills of her own. It would be double digit digs for Faro in match two, where she knocked down 10 kills, while Mara McDougal finished with a team-best 11 digs. The passing game was led by Brooklyn Brennan, who finished with 16 assists in the effort.
The Wheeling University Volleyball team returns to action on Thursday, September 10th when they host Gannon with first serve at 6 PM.
