BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — The University of Charleston completed its run in the 2025 Mountain East Conference Volleyball Championship, defeating West Virginia State, 3-1, Saturday night for the program’s first tournament title.
The Golden Eagles, the No. 2 seed in the MEC South, dropped the first set and then took control to defeat the Yellow Jackets, the No. 3 seed in the MEC South. West Virginia State was the defending champion, and had defeated North Division co-champion Fairmont State and South Division co-champion and host West Virginia Wesleyan to reach the final.
UC (23-12) won 23-25, 25-18, 27-25, and 25-18 to secure the MEC’s automatic qualifying berth into the NCAA Division II Championship field. The NCAA Women’s Volleyball Selection Show will be live-streamed on NCAA.com this Monday at 7:30 p.m. The 64-team, single-elimination bracket will feature 23 teams with automatic qualification, and then 41 at-large teams selected by the Division II Women’s Volleyball Committee.
The Yellow Jackets won the opening set inside the Rockefeller Center on the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan after four lead changes. The first set was tied, 10-10, when Alyssa Hill’s kill gave WVSU (17-13) the lead for good. Hill closed out the set with one of her 13 kills on the night.
But Charleston overcame a slow start to the second set to finally take control. After the Yellow Jackets won the first three points in Set 2, the Golden Eagles reeled off five consecutive points. WVSU got no closer than three points the rest of the set.
In the third set, UC captured five consecutive points again, building a 5-2 lead on a pair of kills by Divine Muo and a pair of service aces by Matea Cunningham. West Virginia State rallied late in the set, turning a four-point deficit into a three-point advantage after seven straight points. Charleston fought off a trio of set points and Muo’s back-to-back kills closet out the third set.
The fourth set belonged to Charleston, which only trailed at 1-0 before wrestling control. Patrycja Majos’ match-ending kill set off the celebration for the Golden Eagles. Muo, Majos, and Abby Avila were named to the MEC All-Tournament team, along with Hill and Nicole Gartner Custodio of West Virginia State. Concord’s Meg Williams and West Virginia Wesleyan’s Emily Denison also received all-tournament recognition.
In addition to Hill, West Virginia State was led by Carmen Perez, who had 10 kills and 21 digs, and Gartner Custodio, who finished with eight kills.
Muo led the way with 19 kills for UC, plus nine digs. Majos and Cunningham each had 11 kills, Avila, who leads the MEC in assists, had 44 on Saturday night. Chloe Fortner recorded a team-high 29 digs in the championship match.
2025 NCAA DII women's volleyball schedule
Selection show: 7:30 p.m. on Monday, November 24
Regionals: Dec. 4-6 or Dec. 5-7
Quarterfinals: Thursday, Dec. 11
Semifinals: Friday, Dec. 12
National Championship: Saturday, Dec. 13