BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — West Virginia State University and the University of Charleston will meet in the 2025 Mountain East Conference Volleyball Championship final Saturday night.
Defending champion West Virginia State, seeded No. 3 in the South, eliminated the hosts, West Virginia Wesleyan, 3-0, in Friday’s first semifinal matchup. In the nightcap, UC held off upset-minded Concord to set up the final. Friday’s semifinal was comprised of the top four finishers in the MEC South Division standings. West Virginia Wesleyan, the top overall seed, and UC shared the division title.
Saturday night’s championship will be held at the Rockefeller Center on the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan. All matches are streamed on MountainEast.tv, and scores and recaps can be found on mountaineast.org.
#3S West Virginia State def. #1S West Virginia Wesleyan, 3-0 (25-19, 30-28, 25-19)
The Yellow Jackets return to the MEC championship game a year after knocking off Wheeling in the finals. On Friday, inside Rockefeller Center, West Virginia State swept the top overall seed and hosts, 3-0.
West Virginia State (17-12) set the tone in the first set, scoring the first six points to open the match. The Yellow Jackets’ lead grew to as many as 12 points, 19-7, following a four-point run that included a kill by Nicole Gartner Custodio. The Bobcats rallied to within five points, 24-19, but Gartner Custodio closed out the set with another kill.
The second set was tightly contested, and West Virginia Wesleyan (20-9) had two match points at 27-26 and 28-27, but WVSU scored three consecutive points, led by a kill from Alyssa Hill, to put the Bobcats in a hole entering the third set.
In the third set, the Yellow Jackets again started hot, building leads of 5-1 and 7-2 behind three more kills from Hill and one from Gartner Custodio. The Bobcats were able to pull even at 8-8, but West Virginia State took control from there, reeling off five consecutive points. A service ace by Baylee Smith completed the sweep.
#2S Charleston def. #4S Concord, 3-1 (24-26, 25-16, 25-17, 27-25)
UC overcame a first set loss to eliminate the Mountain Lions.
After Concord took the opening set, UC shifted momentum early in the second set by scoring the first four points, three on kills (two by Divine Muo and one by Patrycja Majos). Another Kill by Muo made it 7-1, and the Mountain Lions pulled no closer than six points the rest of the set.
In the third set, it was tied 10-10 before UC wrested control, reeling off four consecutive points on kills by Julie Michalkova, Majos, and Muo. A service ace by Sophia Knowles closed out the second set.
Charleston had to rally late in the fourth set to avoid a decisive fifth set. Concord built a 23-17 lead after a kill by Meg Williams, but the Golden Eagles reeled off seven consecutive points to take the advantage. During that run, Matea Cunningham and Muo had kills. Concord battled back to win two more points, but then UC scored the final three points to advance to the championship match.
Meg Williams led Concord with 12 kills. Majos (17 kills), Muo (14 kills), and Cunningham (13 kills) paced Charleston (22-12).
Concord dropped to 21-9 on the season.