INSTITUTE, W.Va. – Wheeling University won its 11^th Mountain East Conference Volleyball Championship on Saturday evening with a 3-1 win over West Virginia State at the Walker Convocation Center in Institute.
 
The Yellow Jackets won the first set, 25-18, before the Cardinals won the next three sets by scores of 25-16, 25-16 and 25-12.
 
Wheeling hit .272 in the match with 53 kills and just 16 assists. After hitting .484 in the first set, West Virginia State would cool off and ended the night hitting just .113 with 45 kills and 28 errors.
 
Wheeling also held an 11-9 advantage in total blocks.
 
Riley Kindall led the Cardinals in the championship match with 14 kills and 17 digs. Tylah Yeomans finished the evening with 13 kills, and Mady Winters also reached double-figures with 10 kills to go with six blocks assists. Karly Niesen passed out 44 assists.
 
Kindall, Niesen and Yeomans were all named to the MEC All-Tournament Team.
 
Defensively, Wheeling was led by Melia Gorrell with 22 digs.
 
West Virginia State was led offensively by Diamond’Nique Young with 11 kills. Hannah Steele also chipped in eight kills. In the middle, West Virginia State was once again led by Natalie Beer with six blocks to go with five kills.
 
Kiersten Eggleton passed out 26 assists. Defensively, Ashlynn Davis tallied 16 digs to lead the Yellow Jackets.
 
With the championship victory, Wheeling earns the MEC’s automatic bid into the 2023 NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament. West Virginia State (6^th), West Liberty (8^th), Fairmont State (9^th) and Charleston (10^th) were also regionally ranked coming into this week’s tournament.
 
Final NCAA tournament selections will be announced on Monday, Nov. 20, exclusively on NCAA.com.
 
2023 MEC All-Tournament Team
Joey Borelle (Fairmont State)
Katelynn Fritz (West Liberty)
Kiersten Eggleton (West Virginia State)
Diamond’Nique Young (West Virginia State)
Riley Kindall (Wheeling)
Karly Niesen (Wheeling)
Tylah Yeomans (Wheeling)