ERIE, Pa. — Wheeling University will represent the Mountain East Conference in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Championship on Saturday afternoon when the third-seeded Cardinals face host and No. 1 seed Gannon.
Wheeling eliminated Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) in a five-set thriller Friday evening.
The final is set for 7 p.m. inside the Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Fifth-seeded West Virginia State, the MEC Tournament champions, lost to Gannon in the other semifinal, 3-0. The Yellow Jacket had been on a 14-match winning streak before falling to the hosts.
Semifinal #1: Wheeling def. IUP, 3-2 |
Box Score
Wheeling returns to the Atlantic Regional Championship for the first time since 2021 after rallying to knock off IUP in five sets. The Cardinals lost the first two sets, 25-21 and 25-22, but survived a lengthy third set, 28-26, before taking control in sets four and five.
No. 3 Wheeling, now 27-10 on the season, won the fourth set, 25-23, before hanging on in the fifth set, 15-9, to advance in the three-day event.
Seniors led the way for the Cardinals in kills, assists, and digs. Riley Kindall finished with a game-high 26 kills, while Mady Winters added 18. Karly Niesen collected a team-high 51 assists. Kindall had a game-high 23 digs, while Niesen and freshman Bella DeBarr each had 15 digs.
Wheeling and Gannon met once earlier this season, a 3-2 win for the Cardinals in the Wheeling Invitational on September 19.
Semifinal #2: Gannon def. West Virginia State, 3-0 |
Box Score
The red-hot Yellow Jackets, who had not lost since October 15 vs. the University of Charleston, could not overcome the region’s top seed and host school. The last team to sweep WVSU (24-10) was also Gannon, a matchup that occurred in the Atlantic Region Crossover at West Liberty on September 21.
Gannon registered the sweep by scores of 25-19, 25-18, and 25-20. In the third set, WVSU held a 3-point lead, 19-16, before the Golden Knights won nine of the next 10 points to seal it.
In the final match of the team’s season, Hannah Steele led the way with 12 kills, while Valencia Wilder added nine. Eggleton finished with a game-high 30 assists. Libero Morgan Caba had a game-high 18 digs, while Steele, Ashlynne Davis, and Eggleton added seven digs apiece.
It was an historic year for the West Virginia State program under the direction of first-year coach Avery Moore, who was honored prior to the conference tournament as the 2024 MEC Coach of the Year. The Yellow Jackets’ star, Kiersten Eggleton, was voted as the 2024 Player of the Year. In the conference tournament, WVSU won three matches in three days, including the championship against North Division champion Wheeling. The Cardinals had won all 11 MEC Tournament titles prior to the Yellow Jackets’ win.