*Tournament Central

West Virginia State will take on Urbana tomorrow at 5 p.m. followed by Davis & Elkins and Wheeling at 7:30 p.m.
 
West Virginia State 3, Notre Dame 1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 25-19) | Final Stats
WHEELING, W.Va. – Third-seeded West Virginia State defeated sixth-seeded Notre Dame in four sets to open play in the MEC Volleyball Tournament Quarterfinals. 
 
The Yellow Jackets edged the Falcons 25-20 in set one before dropping set two with the same score.  West Virginia State (21-13) responded by picking up 25-21 and 25-19 wins in the third and fourth sets, respectively to advance to semifinal play. The Yellow Jackets led for nearly the entire fourth set and captured five of the last six points to secure the win.
 
Mary Kate McHugh collected a match-high 20 kills while notching 15 digs for Notre Dame (23-12).  Alexandra Kaeberlein and Sarah DeGeorge recorded 24 digs apiece with Paige Staudacher chipping in 10 with 42 assists.  De George also tallied nine kills for the Falcons with Katie Richardson and Erin Daughtery adding eight kills each. 
 
Six players recorded double-digit digs for the Yellow Jackets, led by Grace Martin with 19.  Jenna Dufresne followed with 16 along with 10 kills and Devon Putnam added 15.  Gabrielle Bullock recorded 14 digs and Jordan West and Brianna Brandt each had 13 in the win.  Emily Davis and Gabrielle Thompson both notched a team-high 11 kills.

Urbana 3, Fairmont State 1 (25-19, 23-25, 31-29, 25-16) | Final Stats
By Urbana Sports Information
WHEELING, W. Va. – A wild victory in the third set boosted No. 2 Urbana University past seventh-seeded Fairmont State University in the Mountain East Conference quarterfinals, hosted Thursday at Wheeling University's McDonough Center.

UU (18-12) earned its second win ever in the MEC volleyball tournament in thrilling fashion, 3-1, with final set scores of 25-19, 23-25, 31-29 and 25-16. The Blue Knights, who hold their best seeding ever in the MEC tourney, will go for their first win in the semifinals tomorrow night.

Hannah Delor led Thursday's quarterfinal match with 16 kills, five aces and 10 digs while Lexi Reinert also reached double figures with 13 kills. Setter Anna Davis had 46 assists, 5 digs and four kills and libero Courtney Niesen notched 26 digs. Strong defensive efforts were also produced by Jenna Franks and Maggie Burns with 17 and 12 digs, respectively.

UU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match by closing the opening set with an 8-2 run. Kaitlin Trace forced a Fairmont timeout with a block to put UU in front 15-11, but the Falcons came back to tie the score 17-17. Natalie Perez, who had five kills in the first, caught fire with three kills down the stretch and another Trace point clinched the set.

The second set featured another late run, this time from Fairmont, as the Falcons used a 9-1 spurt to claim a 21-17 advantage. The Blue Knights got back within a point at 24-23, but couldn't close it out.

In the third, Fairmont led the majority of the way until an entertaining comeback by the Blue Knights stole all the momentum. The Falcons raced out to a 10-3 lead and remained out in front until a Delor kill finally put the Blue Knights ahead for the first time in the set, 21-20.

Then, the two teams who just played each other less than a week ago traded blows.

Fairmont gained a set-point opportunity when it moved ahead 24-23, but a Burns kill and Niesen ace turned the tide for a 25-24 Urbana lead. The Blue Knights held five set-point advantages at the end, but needed a Davis kill to tie it back up at 29-29, which was followed by a Reinert-Delor block and FSU ball-handling error to seal the win for Urbana.

The momentum never left Urbana as the Blue Knights moved out to a 7-0 lead in the fourth and never trailed during the final frame.

Fairmont's Julia DiPaola had 17 kills and Rebecca Feeney had 13. The Falcons hit slightly better overall with a team percentage of .163 compared to .155 for Urbana. However, the Blue Knights hit over .300 in the final set and also benefited from eight aces.

Davis & Elkins 3, West Liberty 1 (25-23, 25-23, 18-25, 25-23) | Final Stats
WHEELING, W.Va. -- Davis & Elkins outlasted West Liberty, 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 18-25, 25-23) on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the MEC Tournament. 

The Senators led 24-16 in the first set before the Hilltoppers went on a 7-0 run to get to within a point. However, an attack error by WLU ended the set and gave D&E a 1-0 lead.

The second set was close throughout, and with the match tied at 23-23, Kaitlyn LaCour hit two of her match-high 20 kills to close out the set. 

West Liberty used an 13-4 run midway through the third set to grab a 21-15 lead. The cushion allowed the Hilltoppers to close out the set and draw back to within one in the match, 2-1. 

Trailing 15-13 in the fourth set, D&E took a timeout and then scored five-straight points to pull ahead 18-15. The 'Toppers battled back into the match and took the lead at 20-19, but the Senators went on a 4-0 run using a pair of kills from Mya Mintschenko and an ace from Jo Lyn Jurek and a kill from LaCour to lead 23-20. The teams then traded points, and Mintschenko closed it out with her eighth kill of the night. 

LaCour finished with 20 kills and hit .208 on the match, and also contributed 16 digs. Luanne O'Kane had nine kills and 15 digs. Sarah Warren had 33 assists and 23 digs. Kelly Smith had a match-high 27 digs. 

Mackenzie Sims led the way for WLU with 12 kills, while Madison Clayton added 11. Sims also finished with 19 digs. Renee Lemke had 23 assists to go with 19 digs. 

Wheeling 3, Charleston 0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-20) – Final Stats
WHEELING, W.Va. – Top-seeded Wheeling University rolled to its 24th straight win in a 3-0 decision against eighth-seeded Charleston. 
 
The Cardinals outlasted the Golden Eagles 26-24 in set one before picking up 25-17 and 25-20 wins in sets two and three, respectively. 
 
Wheeling (29-3) jumped out to an early 12-7 lead in the opening set before a 6-1 run by Charleston (12-21) knotted the score.  Both teams battled for control with neither pulling away by more than three points in the remainder of the set.  With the score tied 24-24, a Golden Eagle attack error and a kill by Stephanie Sylvester secured the set one win for Wheeling. 
 
After capturing the opening set, the Cardinals maintained the momentum for the remainder of the contest. 
 
Cassie Meyer paced Wheeling with 15 kills and 10 digs.  Breanna Kramer added 13 kills and 12 digs while Audrey Francis tallied 17 digs in the victory.  Stephanie Sylvester notched 40 assists.
 
Rachel Phalen led the effort for the Cardinals with 17 kills in the setback.  Kelsey Matusic collected 14 digs and Erin Thomas handed out 35 assists and eight digs.