Athens, W. Va. – After a long home stretch during October, the Wheeling University Volleyball team (16-6, 7-1) hit the road for a rare weekend stretch. They kicked things off in Athens, West Virginia as they took down Concord 3-0. The Cardinal’s defense was strong throughout the night, not allowing more than 20 Mountain Lion points throughout the night, and holding them to under 15 in two of the three sets played.
It was yet another night where the Cardinals spread the ball around, with eight different players getting a kill and three different players finishing with eight or more kills. That would be evident right from the get-go as Katie Wilking started things with a kill and Tylah Yeomans added one of her own as the Cardinals went ahead 4-1. Concord fought back to make it 4-3, but the Cardinals went off to the races on an 8-0 run that grew their lead to 12-3. It was the front line that aided the Cardinals throughout the run, with four of the eight points coming via blocks. Mady Winters was a part of all four of those blocks, picking up one solo and three assisted as the Cardinals were off and running. It was enough to propel them to victory as Wheeling scored five of the final six points to take a 25-12 set one win.
With a 1-0 lead on their side heading into set two, the Cardinals just kept on swinging. They started the set on an 8-3 run as they jumped out to an early lead to force the Mountain Lions to fight back. It was Yeomans who would drive the ship on the run, knocking down kills on four of those eight points on her way to what would be an 11 kill day. Despite the early lead, Concord wasn’t letting this set get away from them as they battled back to make it 8-7 and kept it to within a four-point game at the set’s midway point at 19-15. A service error made it 20-15 in favor of the Cardinals, but once again Concord kept it close making it 20-17. The Cardinals would bring up set point at 24-17, before three straight Mountain Lion points made it 24-20. However, a service error would end the set as Wheeling won 25-20 and took a 2-0 lead.
The third set began much like the first set, with Wheeling building a 7-5 lead over the first 12 points as the teams went back and forth. Also like the first set, the Cardinals went on a big run to separate themselves as they went on a 6-0 run that made it 13-5 in favor of the Cardinals. This time, it was Wilking who led the charge as she knocked down three of the six points on kills as Wheeling took the early lead. The Mountain Lions would make a 17-10 set before a 7-2 Wheeling run out the game on the line as the Cardinals led 24-12. Concord would syT alive with one more point to make it 24-13, but it wasn’t enough as Cassidey Wiley knocked down the final kill as Wheeling went on to win 25-13 and earned the 3-0 sweep.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was junior Mady Winters, who had a near double-double with 11 kills and nine total blocks. The Cardinals front line got a lot of work throughout the night, with 19 total blocks, and Winters accounted for just under half of those on the day. Tylah Yeomans tied with Winters, knocking down 11 kills while hitting .421 on the night. Junior setter Karly Niesen led the offense with 41 assists as she leads the team to their fourth .300+ hitting percentage match of the season at .341. On the defensive end, Riley Kindall led the way with 12 digs while Melia Gorrell added 10 digs to round out the night.
Source : WU Cardinals
